Primitive Technology: Iron knife made from bacteria

Iron knife made from bacteria
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About This Video:
I smelted iron from iron bacteria and then cast the iron in a mold to form a rudimentary knife, making this the first iron tool I've produced yet. The ore was a species of bacteria that lives by oxidizing iron dissolved in ground water. It appears as an orange/yellow cloudy precipitate in creeks and ponds. It's a very common natural occurrence and can be found on all continents. I collected the diluted ore and poured it into a large, porous ceramic pot I made. The water leaked out, leaving behind the concentrated iron bacteria "mud" like substance. I dried it out until it resembled rusty earth. It took a month to collect the ore for one 2 hour smelt, from a stretch of creek about 20 meters long.
Charcoal was then made simply by burning a pile of wood in a small pit and then extinguishing it with just enough water once it had visibly carbonized. It was quicker to make than the charcoal I normally make in a mound (1hr vs 2.5hrs) and took less preparation time making than the mound from mud. A small furnace was made and the multiblade blower (made in the last episode) was attached to it for air supply.
The furnace was preheated for an hour with wood and filled with charcoal at the end, using the blower periodically but not full blast. Then over the next hour, 3 double handfuls of charcoal (about 500g) and 2 single handfuls or ore (about 200g) were added every 5 minutes while blowing air into the furnace to burn it at this rate. Then there was a 30 min burn down still using the blower till the charcoal reached the level of the air entry. The total operation took 2 hrs. A lump of slag was taken from the furnace and broken up. Iron prills up to about 1 cm in diameter were retrieved. For the sake of experiment I weighed the iron produced on modern scales= 40g iron from an estimated 1.2 kg of ore. Even though this is a low yield by modern standards it is a marked improvement over my previous smelts that produced much smaller and fewer prills over all. I did another smelt that almost exactly reproduced this result (80g of iron stored). The increase in efficiency is due to the much better blower design (8 blades vs the original 4).
Next I cast the iron in a mold. The melting point of pure metalic iron is 1538 C. However, the iron prills I produced are cast iron, an alloy of iron and carbon where carbon is about 2-4% by weight. Cast iron has a relatively tepid melting point of 1150 C. Such a temperature is easily attainable in an open hearth with charcoal and a forced air supply. So, I put the prills into a triangular clay mold and put it into a simple pit forge that took very little time to make. Importantly, I made a special flat air pipe that spread the incoming air into a sheet that blew over the width of the mold to heat all of it evenly, a round one would only heat the middle of the mold and not melt it completely. Charcoal was then put on top of the mold about 12.5 cm deep and the air blast started. The fire became white hot, exceeding the 1150 C needed to melt the iron. The iron melted filling the mold and the iron triangle was taken from it.
Initially, I was going to make it into an axe head, but decided it was too brittle (cast iron is actually harder than pure iron but brittle) so I sharpened it into a knife. It took many hours of sharpening to bring the end to a point. It's not a sharp blade it works well for drilling holes in timber (like for making fire drill sockets). This represents the first iron tool I've made completely from scratch in the wild. Future experiments will focus on obtaining greater yields of iron, exploiting richer sources of ore and ultimately making better iron tools.

[@A.Mere.Creator]

He has officially reached the iron age. Next is the steam engine and the industrial revolution!

[@darkloot]

speedrun of history any% no glitch

[@HShango]

The long road of evolution ha

[@StudioUAC]

and microplastics

[@Servellion]

Actually the next vid will start with a clay and twig satellite in orbit somehow.

[@GenghisKhanBruseySkyz]

cant wait for the steam engines😤

[@LophostrixOwl]

Just watched SunnyV2's video on all the fake primitive construction videos out there and I just wanted express my gratitude for staying down to earth and honest about everything you do. You're the man John!

[@davibawns]

👆

[@G0JI]

👆

[@deaconfetundes7888]

@Pakistani Nationalist *Israel wants to talk with a bot*

[@rblxcasino5104]

👆

[@dog6861]

Same

[@andeeznuts420]

It's absolutely fascinating to see how hard it used to be to make tools from iron and yet our ancestors made so much with these basic technologies

[@_egghead]

Fascinating right

[@Morsmalleo]

Hard work and dedication my friend 😁

[@pepez1325]

depends, this is a show off method, this guy just wanted to show how many methods there is to get iron, our ancestors mined ores then smelted, just like minecraft

[@MrSimonw58]

Must have been s*

[@trevorminton6084]

@@pepez1325 they also generally stuck to metals that melted at lower temperatures and were softer. Upgrades in technology allowed us to go from rocks>copper>bronze>iron>steel. Him skipping two ages and going straight from rocks to iron is quite impressive

[@ashurean]

Daily reminder that this is one of the only "primitive tech" channels with ANY repute and he 100% deserves the audience he has because he's an absolute mad genius.

[@simezra]

10 hours of sharpening, i felt that deep in my soul as a knife guy. this guy is a legend.

[@DanKaschel]

Yeah that's no joke. I wonder if he could improvise some kind of grinding wheel, though you'd need a round stone and either a way to drill a hole in it or some other way to mount it to a wooden shaft

[@gRleF]

@@DanKaschel once hes done with that knife the stone he used probably has a hole in it xD

[@surajmsd]

@@gRleF lmao

[@rmkenney]

@@DanKaschel The real key would be to find a way to forge the blade flat or close to the final desired shape so that you don't need to remove so much material later. Of course he'll have to figure out how to make a Bessemer Converter so he can convert the cast iron into a forgable material(IE, steel). Considering what else he's done, a small BC should be easy for him to cobble. He needs to forge himself a steel sword, the Sword of the Gods. Then he can set himself up as the King of all known territory.

[@illdree]

@@rmkenney i was thinking he maybe should have melted the metals then poured it into the mould rather than melting them together inside it. may have made the sharpening a lot easier but i have no idea how much extra work that would have been.

[@Ghostcharm]

This is truly in the top .01% of KZbin channels. Thanks for all the entertainment and knowledge over the years

[@enkininhursag4728]

Jésus-Christ

[@c.a.a.n7874]

Normally I'd say that is too big of a claim but in this dude's channel it's true. I'd only say that this channel, JonTron, Filthy Frank and Nakey Jakey make up the .01%

[@larvae4785]

so are you, bro

[@Alphae21]

@@c.a.a.n7874 0.01 is like a few million channels

[@TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

YES!

[@Thornsworks]

Just goes to show how thoroughly cherished a tool or sword passed down through the family would be. These tools had HUNDREDS of hours put into their creation. Amazing video as always.

[@Kuhariko]

Depends where u live.. in columbus Ohio we have globs of ore the size of grapefruit in our creeks that don’t need refined

[@sethraelthebard5459]

Indeed. During the latter days of the Bronze Age, around 1500-1000 B.C, iron was exceptionally rare. Rare in that it was very difficult in most developed nations at the time to be able to find the ore, let alone get fires strong enough to smelt it. Iron was thought to be found only in meteorites, as the iron oxide content was far more visible than other ore sources found on Earth. Thus, in the early days of iron-smelting, tools and especially weapons made of this "meteoric iron" were elevated to priceless treasures and relics. They were legendary artifacts that came "from the stars."

[@Dbadaing]

@@sethraelthebard5459 All iron on Earth actually comes from meteor collisions with the Earth. The ones we find in the ground is just from very long ago.

[@ignotumperignotius630]

many tools and especially swords (post 2000bc invention) were thrown into rivers and lakes

[@AsifIcarebear3]

More insane that the result is so shitty, relatively speaking. All that effort for something not that much different from just another sharp stone. Must've taken a whole lot of convincing to get a solid amount of iron to make something worthwhile out of that a stone couldn't do.

[@LuckFx]

Dear John, I'd just like to let you know (though by this video's response you've already probably understood yourself) how ecstatic this video has made me and so many others feel. I've been following you for years, got your (wonderful) book and I'm now eagerly awaiting the second installment. I believe I can speak for most of your viewers when I say that ever since I saw your first video I've been hoping against hope that eventually you would advance into ores and metals. And boy did you deliver. I hope you are making a good living out of this channel or at least this passion of yours. This is for me the pinnacle of youtube, videos that are not just mesmerizing and entertaining but will also stand the test of time due to the sheer nature of their content. Please, no pressure, but never leave us again.

[@hn454]

Bruh he has over a billion video views. Even if you put him at the very lowest ad rate (which he is not at), he has certainly made over a million dollars from youtube. More likely closer to 3M. Plus $3400 from patreon for every video. Plus his book has been out for over two years and is selling extremely well. He is making more than a good living.

[@KOTO-cod]

@@hn454 yea

[@zach3096]

The ignorance some people have about their favorite creators bewilder me. Like do you realize for every dick you suck here on KZbin there is millions of dollars behind it? In this case, 10 million subs, probably 10+ million dollars. None of your creators care about you. They probably wouldn’t blink twice if they saw you dying on the street… this is coming from someone who loves primitive technology just as much as the next person but damn the cringe

[@zach3096]

Also, you must not be that good of a fan considering he made iron fucking four years ago😂

[@cursorminor]

​@Zach no reason to put any one down man this is in his own words his first Iron tool so regardless its still a massive achievement. I doubt the owner of this channel would be proud of his fan base if all they did was put eachother down. Hope you're doing well tho.

[@primitivetechnology9550]

This is the first iron tool I've made. The method I used is reproduceable and relatively simple so the viewer should be able to get similar results to what I have. Watch the video with captions on to see information on the steps in more details. The ore I used is iron bacteria and it lives in soil everywhere though it only becomes visible when it becomes saturated with water. The viewer has probably seen it before when out hiking along streams but may not have known what it is. Any questions about the process let me know. Thanks.

[@slabgizor1176]

Why not forge it into a flatter shape with more of a blade profile so that you didn't have to do so much work grinding it?

[@morganmitchell4017]

Not about the process, but are you going to make a bigger tool, like an axe? Or perhaps forge the steel to burn off some carbon?

[@plusmanikantanr]

Would "Cement" like the quicklime and any kind of pottery/ceramics be possible to use as the mold ? Are there any other metals like Copper or Tin that is also accessible ? Maybe Pb but that might be too dangerous with fumes and other problems and all. 😀This stuff is brilliant!

[@cristiii7605]

How would this be done with bronze?

[@Terminally_Radical]

I like that this implies people will be following this as example

[@SirPembertonS.Crevalius]

The amount of effort and work to actually create an iron tool with basically sticks and stones in a solo effort is beyond incredible. Especially so when you realize how long he's been working at furnaces and smelting.

[@DesignPrototypeTest]

I, Pencil meet I, Iron Blade.

[@menthols4625]

He just sharpened an iron triangle on a rock for 10 hours. His determination is crazy.

[@IllumTheMessage]

Things are so difficult (nearly impossible) without a little help from our friends.

[@SilvaDreams]

Well this was how copper, bronze and eventually iron was smelted for the longest time. It wasn't till the industrial age that it changed a whole lot. Just in the 1600's or so they'd make essentially a huge tower version of this in a town.... Kind of why so much of Europe lost it's forests to make coal for metal processing. (Well that and the huge ships)

[@yakumanification]

@@menthols4625 Think about the fact that Iron Bacteria gives you 3.3% cast iron per unit collected. if he wanted to make anything bigger...

[@nassehk]

As a metallurgist I am in shock to see what you can do with no tools.

[@Kindlesmith70]

??? He used tools to make tools. You are shocked that he can make a kiln out of clay, or a fire pit?

[@Ikbeneengeit]

Would this be pure iron, or steel? Could you say what allotrope it would be?

[@nassehk]

@@Ikbeneengeit Definitely not pure Iron given that it was in close contact with charcoal. The real question is whether it is steel or cast iron. That is hard to answer without seeing how it breaks or get the chemical composition or see how it generates sparks when machined. The determining factor between steel vs cast iron is carbon content. Less that 2.1 wt% would be steel. Ideally for a tool meant for cutting / piercing, he wants about 0.6 to 0.8 weight percent carbon. Anymore will damage the toughness. Cast iron would be the worst.

[@YouCountSheep]

@@nassehk would be interesting if he gave that to a lab for them to see the composition. It certainly doesn't look like cast iron, its a bit too shiny for that. It might have a high carbon concentration, but I am willing to bet that he actually made a bit of a high carbon steel alloy, there could be some other metals in there from the soil he used to make the forms, also seeing as cast iron has a lower melting point he didn't seem to reach it fully because it is so bubbly, or there is alot of slag in there still.

[@nassehk]

@@YouCountSheep Interesting observations. Yes to all of them. One thing I wish he had done was making a proper low melting point slag. I would like to see him do this again this time add silica sand and some wood ash with sand to ash ratio of 3:1. If he forms a nice molten slag all those iron droplets would sink to the bottom and may even fuse together.

[@nitrogenFox]

From the way his hands were shaking taking the knife out of the mold, I bet he was crazy excited to have made a metal blade from nothing but the world around him and his hands! An amazing achievement!

[@fluffy6489]

John's hands might also be shaking from not just the excitement, but also because of what he is doing. This is insanely hard stuff to do, 10 hours of sharpening etc.

[@PirateAgonistes]

Could also be autoimmune or neurological. He was shaking in other scenes as well. Might have MS, parkinsons, etc...

[@bizmaster1221]

@@fluffy6489 It is probably more time consuming than anything. Most stuff here could be done by anybody with enough time and dedication.

[@fluffy6489]

@@bizmaster1221 Bro i dont even remember commenting this lmaoo

[@stefthorman8548]

grinding metal against rock is very tiring.@@bizmaster1221

[@WillKrause21]

This is one of the most monumental jumps in Primitive Technology videos, a true, tho crude, iron tool made from dirt, wood, and goo. Really amazing. And honestly, I'm shocked that dried iron bacteria is a ~3% grade iron ore.

[@RobGradyVO]

"And Goo" lmfaooooo

[@bigmike-]

Well... Where do you think we got iron from? Lol there's a reason it took humans tens of thousands of years to go from the stone age to the bronze age, and then thousands of years from bronze to iron. We basically just did this stuff until we had enough materials to spur a new wave of technological development (which requires a surprise of material to work with).

[@WillKrause21]

@@bigmike- Bog Iron is my personal likely first forged iron candidate, as it feels much easier to stumble on than the bacteria goo. It is totally possible someone collecting clay for pottery collected it in a particularly gooey place, and when the eventual pottery was fired the goo turned into little iron pellets along with their pottery, and they went from there. Either way, it's amazing how much iron is in these bacteria colonies, and how it's an actually useful amount.

[@FlnkR]

can we just appreciate how valuable clay actually is, from making pots to carry water, to making his house, to being able to survive the high heats of the bottom of the fires and blow air directly on the metal to melt it, everything he has done all traces back to clay and thats fucking awesome

[@Eng_Simoes]

Even men were made out of Clay

[@fuckudieinahole60]

@@Eng_Simoes what ive been made out of clay the whole time!!

[@randymagnum6680]

if you saw my work in ceramics class you would change your mind lol

[@the_rover1]

if plastic wasn't invented, we'd still do a lot of stuff with clay.

[@batt3ryac1d]

@@the_rover1 We do a lot of stuff with clay still lol

[@walterwine]

The OG of primitive technology. Not some fancy ass pool builders, this the real deal

[@axehead45]

The only primitive channel I watch regularly. Actually legit and genuinely fun to watch

[@federicorios1140]

This is an incredible milestone, the first iron tool on your channel. Congrats on reaching the iron age!

[@SandJosieph]

Now he can mine diamonds!

[@cboy-ou2hr]

Now we have to figure out how he'll reach the space age

[@BINTANGFILM_]

@@SandJosieph minecraft hha🤣🤣

[@rydekk-4644]

@@cboy-ou2hr a few hundred millenia worth of research. It helps building a library ;)

[@lasarousi]

​@@rydekk-4644 and burning other's libraries

[@PekaCheeki]

thank you, I've been stuck in the stone age for a while and have been looking for a tutorial on how to advance, this helped me alot!

[@trexx552]

😅

[@manukyanq]

🤣🤣🤣

[@whatamistudio2557]

Dr stone

[@pepez1325]

We should appreciate that this guy made a 1080p camera before a knife

[@DecimusCastusSPQR]

Cave men be like

[@iamthebrownie5989]

This man has been making iron for years now, and every time another video comes out about the iron algae or bacteria or making prills everyone thinks commenting about the iron age is super hilarious and original lol but really it just shows that you havent been watching his videos very long

[@matthewmitchell3457]

Wow, just astonishing. Can you imagine how much an iron knife like that would be worth back in caveman days? And we didn't even get to see him making all of the equipment necessary to make that blade. And to think, the manufacturing technology used to make modern knives, as well as the camera used to record this video and the computer to type out comments that are instantly visible all over the world... all came from THAT.

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

Except it increases the chances of catching tetanus so cavemen fooling around with this stuff back in the day probably got lockjaw and died.

[@CutTheLeash]

@@brainwashingdetergent4128 How does this increase the chances of catching tetanus compared to the usual cavemen stuff?

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

@@CutTheLeash rusty iron deadly poisonous for cavemen, caveman need silver blade.

[@Epic_747]

@@CutTheLeash same bacteria, once its in your body it produces toxins which cause tetanus

[@philleotardo_o]

It'd be worth 2 Korgs and an Oog

[@wesleycatlett9144]

I've been waiting for this moment for years. I've never seen anyone work through these levels of technology so diligently and so knowledgably. Please continue making videos as you are living my dream and that of many others! Fantastic work!

[@dmurray2978]

Dudes more advanced than subsaharan Africa already.

[@chickenosm]

@@dmurray2978 how many times do you need to make the same comment?

[@jimmypoobah8094]

It is amazing how the entities that built the matrix we live in thought of everything. What else did they plant (no pun intended) that is waiting to be found.

[@snark6395]

Same. Ever since the iron pill experiment, I have been waiting for this day. It makes me excited to see what may be down the line.

[@justinrobertson5493]

Skipped the bronze age, straight to iron age.

[@stevenmusante4681]

I’ve been waiting 3 years for this. I greatly respect you sticking to form and painstakingly grinding the blade with rocks. I’ve watched many channels accomplish less with the help of modern tools. Excellent job.

[@cavemanvi]

were in the mfing IRON AGE BROTHERS!!!!

[@AdamJensenReal]

@@cavemanvi he need to make hammer now :)

[@LegendLength]

I also promise the other channels cheat, even the ones that seem honest. If you look at the iron-making for some of those large channels it's clear they added like 1 kg of metal shavings.

[@dmurray2978]

@@cavemanvi he's passed every civilization except Europe and Asia!

[@yuvtube1]

A paddle operated brick wheel would have made it easier for him to sharpen that blade.

[@RJ-wx3fh]

I'm seriously impressed that he basically devised a method for phytomining and refining iron with wood, dirt and water.

[@bizmaster1221]

You can't forget the clay!

[@RJ-wx3fh]

@@bizmaster1221 clay is just washed dirt or the right kind of dirt if you've got clay heavy soil nearby kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpfSXoGanseSnMk

[@TimTimTomTom]

and wind... the four elements.

[@TimTimTomTom]

@@bizmaster1221 that would be the "dirt" part

[@ammoalamo6485]

I have 2 acres of clay. It makes for a miserable yardd. We are near a pond, and on the side of a hill. We get redd slider turtle hatchlings crossing the road, most dying in the attempt. We get clay that supports an incredible number of crawdads, with their clay chimneys that turn hard as rock in the summer sun, tripping people, wearing out the lawnmower, and nothing short of hatchet work or fire or boiling kills them. I'll trade for composite topsoil any day.

[@clareellis4906]

Omg!! I'm finally viewing this with sub titles and it all makes soooo much more sense!! I'm going back to rewatch all the videos with subtitles so I can fully understand everything you are doing:) 😄😄

[@kermi4]

You just blew my mind. I've been watching this guy since he only had 3 vids. I never even considered subtitles with no talking.

[@clareellis4906]

@@kermi4 its makes SUCH a huge difference! Haha enjoy! :)

[@El_Andru]

:V????? how did you last this long?

[@Bear8Photo]

Also my first time watching with subtitles. Iron age is a bit more complicated, so subtitles are definitely very helpful

[@TechInsiderH]

why didnt i know there are captions until nowwwww :(( I've been watching him for years

[@GerackSerack]

"Primitive Technology: Forge Blower" was published *five years ago*. This is such an important milestone! Can't wait to see him advance further.

[@GlobalAidFederation]

He demonstrates that you dont have to keep producing anything new. But consistent.

[@jazko]

Achievement unlocked : Iron

[@baikia777]

Next step probably is forging to make higher quality iron tools.

[@GlobalAidFederation]

@@baikia777 I think he needs a better forge. these guys have just perfected it; kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqSpoZ9vmquUesU The primitive technology metal wars resume. It's amazing how John has managed to catch up with the rest with just one video. I also tthink he may have made steel in this video. So smelting tools instead of forging them will be the best way for him to go.

[@enginyormaz8391]

bronze age collapse happened and it took 5 years for him to het out of the dark ages

[@SurvivalLilly]

I was waiting for this video for years hoping you would advance to iron age 😃

[@GamerGoneFishing]

He made iron years ago already

[@TheSilliestGoober69]

@Dont Check My About Page Link thanks! ill make sure i wont

[@krakic7574]

Me too. I’ve been waiting for him to get enough iron to make something out of it since I first saw his original iron bacteria-forge video. Also your channel is super cool as well. You helped me decide which bow to buy. Vielen Dank!

[@muhschaf]

Yeah after his first bacteria attempt i had this wish too. he has finally done it. ^^ Now he needs to work out Ambos and Hammer better so he can form the iron better.

[@jaminson2855]

@@GamerGoneFishing yes but he never fashioned a blade. This is a monumental step

[@courtneywhite3544]

Thank you for doing these videos. My two young boys are loving it! We homeschool and it's such a great way to teach them how things are made in such a fundamental way.

[@walterezende]

Omg, he made a knife from scratch, masterpiece.

[@poloMpolo]

my thoughts exactly!

[@twokharacters]

You did it! For years you've been trying to get a useful amount of iron out of that bacteria in an efficient way! I'm so amazed and vicariously proud of your accomplishment. All the years have paid off PT. Congratulations and well done!

[@KoeSeer]

next video: I made steel sword and steel tip arrow

[@soulstoneking548]

Fun fact! His names John plant! He's also written a book!

[@davidmistoffelees8459]

@@KoeSeer Spoiler: spaceship in next video :3

[@KCorman16]

This is what I've been looking forward to since his first iron making video. The gradually progression to a usable thing. It kind of feels like watching thousands of years of human development and understanding. He's has the the knowledge, but skill and understanding only come with time. Knowledge can speed up the process but never eliminate it.

[@sirave6017]

Yess, and seeing only one person at work, you can see how with a group of laborers contantly performing their tasks and the true artisans trying to perfect the craft with the right leadserhsip behind them, you're talking about the early city states of Eurasia. They would have already perfected the smelting aspects and casting with their knowledge/technology of copper/brass/bronze and allowys which melt at much lower temperature (less work, less time. This was the next natural progression in that learning curve which resulted in first iron works in Eurasia and elsewhere with empires like the Hittites. Videos like this make that progression of history feel palpable.

[@micahchoate6051]

I love this channel you can tell by how big the projects are and that even with all the parts skipped and the episodes still being up to 10 min that it’s not just something easy to do there is so much work and effort put into it and it shows how well people can do if they work hard enough

[@mattlawyer3245]

Wow, incredible. I didn't think the process of refining your own iron and creating your own tools could be as simple as this. Of course, the results are crude, but with a bit of practice and further refinement it seems very promising!

[@doot4246]

i love the fact that this guy can just be like: "i wanna make a furnace" and he just makes a whole ass functional furnace. like that is some serious skill

[@bluefireanimations3712]

That's actually simple enough. It's just an intake, an impeller to drive the air into the furnace, and a stick with string around it to allow for fast enough rotation. The problem is actually making those first parts. The difficult part of that is that it takes a lot of fiddling to get an impeller to not fall apart when you're working with extremely primitive materials. Everything else is just clay/other materials & knowledge of how airflow and heat works. All it takes is time and materials, it isn't that complex conceptionally.

[@williamszy2827]

@@bluefireanimations3712 8 cobble*

[@memelord9965]

@@bluefireanimations3712 make it then

[@sungvin]

@@memelord9965 why should he? He explained it pretty obviously

[@TheMikuma]

@@memelord9965 I have, but it took about 14 hours of work from two people. He's not incorrect - it's not very complex, but if you don't have a nice source of clay it is back breaking work. Still not too much skill involved, just a lot of labour.

[@rudolfvaavra8859]

I would never have believed that so much iron could be extracted from the bacteria in a single stream. Must have been a lot of work. Hats off to you.

[@rettichdergeile9361]

It really is amazing, I can't imagine what the first person to discover those Bacteria was thinking

[@theappel]

@@rettichdergeile9361 bacteria wasn’t discovered until 1676.

[@nutellasweet7529]

@@theappel your point?

[@painfulsilence316]

@@theappel That doesn't mean it wasn't there or that it wasn't being utilized. Fermentation, boiling water, even knife making (apparently) are all actions involving or in response to bacteria, even if the person didn't know what bacteria was.

[@fergochan]

@@theappel humans have been using prokaryotic bacteria for (as well as eukaryotes like mould and yeast) for millennia without knowing what they are on a fundamental level.

[@littlesaresare]

10 hours of sharpening. Your patience and determination is unbelievable.

[@thehandleiwantedwasntavailable]

I dropped off your videos when you had a lengthy break. I recall at the time, you had extracted a few iron pellets and hinted at metal work in the future. That was probably in 2018. So great to see in 2022 you revisited the topic and created a blade!! All from nothing but the raw materials in your local environment, your physical effort and your mental intelligence. Amazing really.

[@martinanderson1737]

We've reached the Iron Age! John, this is the video that many of your fans have been waiting for since the original Iron Prills video 4 years ago. Absolutely stunning achievement and a credit to all your hard work that we've been privileged to share.

[@MrPanda-ke9rf]

Wait it 4 years ago?? It feel like yesterday, never realize i follow this man journey for so long

[@johnhollingsworth4027]

Yesssss I’ve been waiting 😭

[@jamesgrist1101]

@@gui577b just need to whack the iron with a hammer to convert it from cast iron into forged iron?

[@photonicpizza1466]

@@jamesgrist1101 It’s unfortunately not quite that simple. Cast iron doesn’t refer to just the shaping method, it also has a very high carbon content, which makes it very hard and brittle. This makes it unsuitable for forging, it’ll just shatter upon impact even when heated (hence why it has to be cast). To truly enter the iron age, he’ll need a better smelting process (mixing with the charcoal adds a lot of carbon), and possibly a better source of ore (the bacterial ore is very impure).

[@MaFed191080]

Он узнал как раздобыть шлак от сварки и попытался его нагреть в печи. "Круто". Интересней было если он переплавил свинец. Проще и правдивей, но к сожалению нет в округе свинцовых руд. Хотя мог и в сценарий вложить пару свинцовых камней. А в печи уже добавить чистый свинец.

[@henrylaveran4691]

This man really left us for years, only to return and fully circle back on his arc into the iron age! LEGEND

[@nfr_ub]

He finally did it, i'm crying :')

[@PROLOL-ov2te]

Love this guy, doesn’t fake anything, and makes great content! At 9:13 tho, he lights a fire literally right next to his wood storage. You sure thats a good idea?

[@dvmas]

@teamYBS gay

[@rampantfantasy1181]

i mean probably not but he seems to be an expert and made it through the video fine

[@ozgurylmaz8483]

The work of this man may become a milestone reminder of the most essential knowledge of human civilization carved inside a digital world. For three years, the contents have always been surprising. I have great respect for him and wish him all the best.👏

[@moldoveanu8]

And to think this guy is re-enacting and blending historic time periods it's mind blowing, our ancestors also had to crawl their way through all these stages themselves. Hats off to you John, you are an inspiration

[@Greener01]

He is also applying knowledge of chemistry, biology and physics accumulated by humanity over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. He would be viewed as some kind of wizard by our ancestors XD

[@zagreus5773]

@@Greener01 I wonder how similar the technologies were in the past. Surely we don't exactly know and he is using modern knowledge. But stone age people were incredibly smart and could do some amazing stuff. They used iron oxidizing microbes for making pigments, which also required heating them up to 800°C. But I could not find if they used it to make tools.

[@memelord9965]

@@zagreus5773 they were always smart, they just improvised and utilised whatever they had, similar to computer scientists in 1950s when Internet etc didn't exist, doesn't mean they are dumber than modern day computer scientists

[@zagreus5773]

@@memelord9965 I don't know what you want to tell me, I said nothing different...

[@chrisa8863]

I always wonder what makes me so lucky to alive in this time. I'm sure past generations thought the same and I'm sure future generations will also think the same. Life is fascinating

[@SarudeDanstorm]

It's amazing we basically get to watch a realistic recreation of how we advanced early technology. Primitive Technology has been harvesting Iron in many of his videos, but this is the first he's been able to begin forging with it.

[@nomellameshomerollamamehomer]

Indeed, to be very very precisly, is not forging is casting; to "forge" iron is a little bit more complicated, if he would heat that iron knife until is orange/yellow (1100ºC) and hammer it (maybe with a stone hammer out of a very strong stone) and continue hammering until make a ingot, that would be forging and that iron indeed (due to the previous casting process) it would be steel, way more harder than casted iron (that is that he had)

[@nomellameshomerollamamehomer]

@@thomaswinzy you can make steel out of that way you mention or the way i told, for example to do katanas the process is the one i mentioned, they melt iron powder like this man and make small pieces of "casted" iron (that carries carbon) and later on they smash the pieces with very high temperatures to make steel. When you take casted iron (that had one molecular structure) and re heat and hammer it with enough strenght the molecular structure changes and also you can erase the worsr parts (the molecular structure could go to martensita or even austenita if you heat enough and later on cold down)

[@thomaswinzy]

@@nomellameshomerollamamehomer Sorry I removed my comment before I saw that you replied. i thought re-heating and hammering, cooling and re-heating was something called "hardening". to make steel out of actual iron don't you need to de-oxidize it and add carbon, cast iron have way more carbon than steel and you need to melt it to like 1700C to de-oxidize it. I think cast iron is too brittle to hammer, its hard but cant handle tension, but maybe it works when its red hot

[@nomellameshomerollamamehomer]

@@thomaswinzy yes of course it won't be the perfect steel or method (not nowadays 😅😅😅) but i mean, that superheroe had made iron out of debris of bacteria!! Is a very good product hehehe, I only mentioned that to say that if he wanted to improve his casted iron knife.

[@thomaswinzy]

@@nomellameshomerollamamehomer i dont even think it would be steel at all, thats all im saying. im not trying to argue hes not doing a good job, but its iron, not steel :) but im no expert its just what i read

[@revertedakhi]

I cant think of any primitive channel more legitimate that this. Thank you for sharing us your hard work. Thru your channel we are having an insight about the evolution of human engineering.

[@jonathanstafford9053]

This was a very cool video to watch. I just read the comments section and read about turning on the captions for more information about what you are doing. I am both excited and daunted to go back and re-watch the 40-50 videos I've already seen, but you make some very good videos. 👍

[@deeeeniiiiss]

i love how you're literally evolving as this series goes on, from using your bare hands to making iron tools, soon you'll have full diamond armor!

[@stickpfp6347]

In two years he’ll be in the nether making netherite armor

[@humanperson9443]

He should kill zombies for faster iron

[@urfavleo07]

@@humanperson9443 yes!

[@eyei6535]

everyone laughs until this guy got to medieval times and starts going to towns and enslaving them

[@sirtangerine1465]

Can't wait for him to go to the End beat the ender dragon and unlock the Elytras

[@oxob3000]

He did it! He made an iron tool!

[@kerduslegend2644]

Now the next on the list is to form a proper government

[@alphamamba3076]

Now we just need to find some diamonds and netherite and he'll be ready to fight the ender dragon

[@SherifBender]

It is re-upload from years ago

[@dmurray2978]

He's now surpassed the inventions of subsaharan Africa

[@alphamamba3076]

@@SherifBender I'm fairly certain it isn't, back then he used a different method and he never cast anything. You can also see the impeller he made in a video fairly recently

[@jeffcooper9363]

I'm trying to figure out how you could create a forging process using a dead fall of sorts but lack experience and knowledge. Of course without the proper alloying elements it probably wouldn't work anyway... Great job, I admire your creativity and hard work.

[@spooky3669]

You clearly did not read the description of the video!

[@MyJamesleo]

Dude he have 10 million subscribers and have millions of views on all his videos do you still think he don't have proper knowledge and experience i think he have a proper team and the do proper homework and research for all his videos

[@dzonbrodi514]

@@MyJamesleo I think the commenter was referring to the original people who lacked the theoretic knowledge and were working from trial and error

[@sossololpipi9633]

Insane boredom + fire = this

[@Viral-Boss]

Imagine being sent back 5.000 years with a time machine together with this guy. Amazing channel!

[@lordchickenhawk]

Congratulations on making a workable amount of iron! You've worked so hard over so many years with so many experimental techniques to achieve this! Thanks for sharing your journey with us all.

[@aeris-mo]

[@attilarischt2851]

I believe this method of iron gathering was used even quite far into the renaissance. To my knowledge the majority of iron for the peasantry was bog iron usually forming under wet grassland by the same or very similar bacteria. Tooling got a bit more sophisticated of course, but mined ore was not particularly affordable for the poorer strata

[@richarevans]

Because transportation wasn't easy I think you are right, most iron making didn't involve ore. If you look at places like East Anglia and West of London there isn't any ore of note (though there may have been local mines)

[@Bialy_1]

"Prior to the industrial revolution, most iron was obtained from widely available goethite or bog ore, for example during the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Prehistoric societies used laterite as a source of iron ore. Historically, much of the iron ore utilized by industrialized societies has been mined from predominantly hematite deposits with grades of around 70% Fe. These deposits are commonly referred to as "direct shipping ores" or "natural ores". Increasing iron ore demand, coupled with the depletion of high-grade hematite ores in the United States, led after World War II to development of lower-grade iron ore sources, principally the utilization of magnetite and taconite. " You can actualy search information in internet... no need to write comments about your "believe"...

[@attilarischt2851]

@@Bialy_1 I do appreciate double checking my "belief" though the words I used seems to have been incorrect. Bog ore is what I referred to. Hematite was mined, and while a very good iron ore, is also not that common to be found everywhere, making transportation for the poorer strata extremely rare. You will not see peasants fixing their plows with them, unless there was a larger city nearby they could travel to (before train it usually meant 12-ish kms, as that was the distance you could make on foot and back in a day). Laterite is a soil type, most common in the tropics and near the equator, so it's not exactly useable to to peasants outside of those regions. It's that red soil you see in australia for example. Goethite was first described in 1806, but I'm not sure how widespread its usage was beforehand, it's been a while since I had my minearology classes, you might be absolutely correct about this one being used. However I would like to point out that my original comment was about the peasantry, the people who coulnd't afford the mined ore, those who had to till the land from sunup to sundown. Those people had to make do with what they had nearby and bog iron (or bog ore if you will) was the most convenient. For the nobles, and the nation itself, sure mined ore was absolutely more important and convenient, if for nothing else the pure difference in scale that mining can achieve.

[@SuperMario.]

@@Bialy_1 No, when you use the term "To my knowledge" or "Believe" you are actually putting yourself as the source of the information you are talking about. When a random internet comment writes matter of factly about any information on the internet it is important to mention the source so false information can be tracked and corrected before it becomes public misconception. By saying he is the source you can naturally assume it not to be 100% accurate and do what you did, research it further.

[@c0nstantin86]

Evolution is a joke! All men who landed from the Ark of Noah ware inteligeble

[@RSSiegfriege]

I have been waiting a long time before for you to reach Iron age tool, now you've reached it. literally the best survival channel I have seen so far since before until now.

[@mrfloppy1952]

it's amazing to realize that nature has given us all the tools and technologies and essentials hidden in plain sight waiting to be discovered by us.

[@eaaeeeea]

I consume A LOT of different kinds of media, and Primitive Technology is easily the most consistently fascinating series of all media. Your editing and captions provide 100 % substance and 0 % fluff so it respects the viewers' time. You obviously do a lot of research on this subject and your continuous desire to learn keeps the content fresh. The upload frequency is often enough to remember the existence, but rare enough to allow for superior quality and desireability through scarcity. The multitude of copycats simply cannot make all these things work consistently, so you through your passion will remain the king of the hill.

[@lisawaters2585]

Yes, I agree completely.

[@Ral_Sera]

Watch it again this time with Captions on for those who didn't know he has captions

[@Wokegooglers]

Stop consuming

[@BoomerKeith1]

And he's done a phenomenal job since the very beginning. I have learned more from his content over the years than all other YT channels I've watched combined.

[@BoomerKeith1]

@@Ral_Sera I didn't realize he added captions for a long time. When I discovered that it changed his content completely for me. Made it even better.

[@Tilnaor]

First of all: glad to see you active again. Second: Congratulations of reaching the Iron Age! You, in these series of videos, illustrate very well how each invention needed for the next - and why was so incredibly slow the progress.

[@gay4pay882]

@doire aintu thanks!!

[@N911GT2]

It was slow because people like to break things down.

[@mrPurplexedYT]

@@N911GT2 It was slow because people needed to figure things out... he already has most of the knowledge and just needs to apply it

[@WhittaII]

I can't wait for 20 years to pass when this guy's making CPU's from his hut in the woods

[@BANDERSJR]

its also interesting how each new step cuts time from the next step. literally documenting how technology compounds to create exponential growth

[@WildRapier]

Impressive! I used to run a PWS it was mostly for iron removal, which we oxidized with potassium permanganate and sodium hypochlorite. Of course we learned about iron feeding bacteria. Nice to see it put to use primitively instead of crushing iron ore.

[@Orpheonix]

@PrimitiveTechnology I'm so happy for you dude. Literally got up out of my couch and started cheering when you pulled the cast out and it was intact. 💪

[@ReaperUnreal]

Really interesting to see how much more robust the iron knife is than a stone one. Really makes you appreciate what a step forward the iron age was.

[@Legohaiden]

yep... and if he put that lil bad boy on the end of a length of wood... he'd have a formidable primitive weapon... an iron tipped spear.

[@jerotoro2021]

It's interesting because he fully skipped any copper or bronze age, just with the knowledge that there's iron in that orange sludge. History would have been very different if people realized that way back then.

[@dmurray2978]

Some humans never even discovered metal, until Europeans and Asians brought it to them.

[@flux2624]

@@jerotoro2021 People were making iron this way long before the iron age. The small yields just made it unsuitable for weapons. Also most of it would have rusted away so there's little archaeological record.

[@dodgeplow]

@@flux2624 How would they have known? He was able to do it because he knew to expect iron in that bacteria.

[@TheJoePilato]

The combination of chemistry, geology, biology, botany, construction, engineering, physicality, and everything else is astounding. Specialization is for insects and your well-rounded nature inspires me.

[@Phoenix-zu6on]

if you think about it, its the other way around. all of those fields stem from primitive technology, such as this. and when it all got to much for one person to know, it was branched out.

[@1.4142]

@@Phoenix-zu6on It's also much or efficient to get really good at one task, increasing the volume of production of everyone. Imagine if everyone had to do every step of the supply chain today.

[@michaelscott-joynt3215]

Civilization is utterly built on specialization. What he's showing you took ages of special study and practice to achieve higher understanding and efficiency. What he presents is the cumulation of all of this knowledge and experience. Being well-rounded means not having peak understanding or experience at anything. It's not a bad thing, but by your logic an insect knows more about any one of those things than he does.

[@alal2192]

Ok but why be so rude lol

[@himan12345678]

@@michaelscott-joynt3215 no, specialization is stagnation. Progress is made by polymaths and groups brought together consisting of diverse specialists. Everyone likes to quote the saying, "jack of all trades, master of none..." but leaving it at that is misleading and completely changes to the original meaning of the whole proverb, "...better than a master of one." We are not meant to specialize, we are meant to play to our strengths and cooperate with others to cover our weaknesses. And we are not limited to just one strength, we all have many. Even the best at a certain task will get bored or tired of performing that, so you have others that can do that task when that happens, so they get a break or change of pace. All specialization has ever done is support, empower, and entrench the elite and powerful. From the God-Kings of the bronze age, to the monarchies and church of the medieval era, to the corporations and military-industrial complexes of today.

[@Augustus_Imperator]

This is without question the most interesting, exciting and compelling channel I found in the last year here on youtube.

[@BenRussoUSA]

The fact that Primitive Technology channel has 10.8M subscribers gives me hope for the future of the human species.

[@aggressive_hugs7293]

This was nothing less than absolutely remarkable. The amount of effort put into such a small, but essential piece of metal really solidifies how much we really do take for granted all the small hand tools that have led us to this point in our technological advancement. Thank you for the massive amount of effort you put into making this, and THEN making a whole edited video about it. As I said before, truly fucking remarkable.🤙🏼🖤

[@dragnar0512]

i like to kiss dudes but mommy doesnt know

[@itsjustshrimpy3790]

John is an absolute legend.

[@farahnumber8832]

@@dragnar0512 WHAT DA FU-

[@connorbraun7305]

@@farahnumber8832 can i use you to relieve myself? 👉👈😳

[@ilyabykov2437]

Never seen an ape with metal blade, only humans.

[@ThomasCr0ss]

Finally! Iron Age achieved! We waited for so long for it and we are so proud of You! Thank you for the journey! Can't wait to see the crafts you make with iron tools, because even the stone tool made ones were amazing!

[@reliantncc1864]

Took me longer to work my way up to iron in Civilization. He's going to be flying to Alpha Centauri in a homemade rocket before you know it.

[@Arkume8Beltz]

I don't understand why the haste to the achievements and the metal ages..we lived 300k in the paleolithic, only 10k in the neolithic, 2k in the copper & bronze age, 3k the iron age..and remember..this is only a eurocentric point of view..in parts of africa, oceania & america the stone age ends 2 hundred years ago or less..and made increible well works with stone & wood...we forced them to a really speed changes in euro-asia needs hundreds years in decades..(how"easy"can find and work wood & stone make we can adapt around the diferent enviroments of the Earth, our actual manufactured superspecialitzation and enviroment destroyers maybe make us like chetah to the extintion..not to space explorer like StarTrek or StarWars..we have the same social & psychological problems we had at the beggining of"history"recorded and by the way probably we create new tech than will solve that..) we will need 500k more in stone age to evolve adecuately to can use appropiately our actual tech..we can live mutualistic symbiosis with Earth biosphere, we can be the brain & inmune system of the Earth, but we destroy the enviroment who evolved us, some individuals can be clever but as specie we are to stupid..xD

[@JaySmith-vq9oy]

This is absolutely incredible. I had no idea this was possible.

[@thomascraig7230]

I really enjoy your videos. You are the most patient person in history. Stay safe.

[@Mandolatron]

10 hrs sharpening

[@gamingSlasher]

The patience of this guy is amazing and now he made iron tool literally from scratch. Mind blowing.

[@ScienceDiscoverer]

It's even more mind blowing to realise that 99% of the humans don't realise how hard it is to make even the simplest metal tool that they use every day. This is really sad.

[@AnEnemyAnemone1]

@@ScienceDiscoverer 75 IQ thinking you’re a genius lmao

[@freeza5545]

@@ScienceDiscoverer I do not agree that this is sad. It is only amazing. We have to remember someone built this life just so we could forget what it was really like. Should we ever forget? No. We should only be grateful.

[@dombowombo3076]

@@ScienceDiscoverer To be fair making iron tools nowaday is far less hard. But it is amazing to see that the method he used here is basically the same one that is used still today just on a much smaller scale.

[@argonaut741]

Literally; for dirt water and mud. I can wait for him sicovering and using oter materials as Copper or Bronze

[@agate_jcg]

I really like how this thinks about the problem of ironmaking from the start rather than copying historical sources: even the early bloomeries were big enough that you'd need an organized community to operate one. This shows that it can be done on a *much* smaller scale, reducing the work to something one person can handle, and it uses a very common but small-quantity source that's not commercially viable. Looks like your next step is to make a grinding wheel!

[@Marci124]

This is more interesting and involved archeological work than what goes into many a PhD nowadays, I imagine. There are similar projects, like smelting iron-laden sands and such, but this one-man amateur jobbie produced the most viable results yet.

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

Should be pretty simple to do, except for creating the hole in the wheel. I honestly have no idea how that could be done

[@Celebmacil]

@@skeetsmcgrew3282 With a harder stone than the wheel is made of, and a fair bit of time and energy, I'd assume?

[@Heterandria4mosa]

@@skeetsmcgrew3282 I believe it can be done using wood spindles and depositing hard grit in the hole as you grind.

[@faithnfire4769]

@@Celebmacil Hard rock on a stick and an apparatus to make it easy to spin. Or the good old 'human wrist' as you said. Better yet find a rock that already had a starting dent and go from there.

[@SocialPrime]

Please never stop making videos. This is one of my favorite channels

[@wiscgaloot]

I was very skeptical that this would work, but I'm absolutely stunned and impressed by what you accomplished here.

[@werce9120]

This is a monumentally important tool for many things. I'm glad you were able to produce it with what little ore was there.

[@lazyman7505]

Well, not really. Iron knife at his 'level of civilization' is not much better than stone ones which are far easier to make and replace. Chisel would be far more useful for any possible stone work (can't really do any with just stone tools). But since it's cast iron, the usefulness is very limited either way. Making it into better form would be good next step.

[@werce9120]

@@lazyman7505 Yeah, a chisel might be stronger in certain cases. I'm thinking he could probably hybridize that head and partially convert it into a multitool of sorts. I don't think he has any flint blades, but I don't entirely remember all of this videos, so he might have something that cuts.

[@legomacinnisinc]

The sheer brute force patience of this man, I really am impressed. Ever since his first video talking about how to get iron from bacteria I've been waiting for him to make an iron tool and now he has. It's been an amazing ride!

[@ruolbu]

exactly this.

[@evanflagg8386]

Makes you wonder if it took him multiple tries that took a long time

[@knightshousegames]

@@evanflagg8386 I mean, definitely. You can see in previous videos him basically building his technological base to make this possible, like all the different experiments with his impeller system, optimizing the coal production process, improving his furnace designs. It was all to get to this point.

[@chad1755]

All of humanity: Stone age, copper age, bronze age, iron age over several thousand years. Primitive Technology guy: Stone age straight to iron age, single-handedly. Ultimate flex.

[@Pixelgamer28Yt]

His friend: what were you doing this month? He: getting some iron His friend: in minecraft? He: no in real life

[@BlockHead1326]

Been waiting for iron tools since the first prill video. So glad to finally see it

[@sneakypeacock8394]

Bro going to find diamonds in the next vid.

[@EfficientTrout]

glad people remember his old videos

[@nekrataali]

And IIRC in that video he only had a few ingots (like a couple of milligrams). Using the porous container to filter the iron from the water seems to have done the trick of getting lots of material quicker. I think in the first video he was just kind of scooping it out of the river and immediately cooking it? I'll have to go back and watch.

[@olavl8827]

Congratulations. This is what everyone was hoping and waiting for. Now I'm sure that whoever first discovered that they could produce iron, immediately wanted MORE. The same applies here! I'm very curious to see how you will streamline and expand your iron making and discover primitive metalworking techniques.

[@triopical6884]

He's gonna make a futuristic utopia from zero in the wild.

[@olavl8827]

@@Feanux I'm pretty sure the invention of war predates upright walking in our ancestors, let alone metal technology.

[@Bialy_1]

@@olavl8827 I'm pretty sure that first iron for tools was taken out of meteorites as the oldest iron tools are made from steel that is full of nickel... Also your comment kinda ignores how hard/expensive is production of a charcoal and how crapy this tool is if you compare it with good quality stone tool. I saw a flint tool that was less than 1m under a constantly plowed field for who knows how many years and it was razor sharp 12-13 cm long 2cm wide blade with perfect flat triangle shape(3 to 4 mm tall triangle) all over its lenght. "Enlarged 10,000 times under an electron microscope, the edge of a steel scalpel blade 'looks like the Rocky Mountains,' said J. Jeffrey Flenniken of Washington State University. On the other hand, stone blades have keen edges because they are fashioned 'naturally.' He said they can be broken to the last molecule." You do not need an electron miscroscope to tell that this blade is not as sharp as a good quality stone tool...

[@dreyvinnash]

@@Bialy_1 sharpness is important, yes. but in the days of old, time had to be spent carefully to ensure survival in harsh environments. for that reason, a stone tool is less useful due to a more common need for replacements or repairs. yes, stones such as flint and obsidian may sharpen well, but against harder surfaces, they are likely to crack. for sharp tools, iron and steel are hard to beat for durability and longevity.

[@heygek2769]

@@Bialy_1 Flint is brittle though, steel is a lot more reliable if you maintain it, it will last you a lifetime. Charcoal isnt expensive to produce at all in forested areas. You're also comparing 'good quality stone tools' with a man's first attempt at creating an iron tool, he didn't even forge it.

[@chiubacca82]

Followed you for 5 years for this episode... totally worth the wait.

[@oldcomrade_5825]

when this vid came out, im sure it was a dream come true for many long-time viewers if you were in grade school when you saw Mr. Plant's older videos, you'd have either been a teenager or an adult when this came out lol

[@dragonwithamonocle]

I love how if you just watch the video, everything looks super simple and straightforward... Then you turn on the captions and start reading things like "collecting the dilute iron oxide precipitate" and realize this guy REALLY knows his stuff.

[@lifewuzonceezr]

Captions make the videos!!XooX

[@Jay_in_Japan]

No kidding! Though... "dilute iron oxide precipitate" is just verbose nerd talk for "rusty water" 🤓

[@dragonwithamonocle]

@@Jay_in_Japan Oh yeah, but it's a heck of a lot more technically specific than "rusty water," and the science talk lends a serious amount of cred to the channel that many people may not be expecting! Ya love to see it.

[@emanwe01]

In a previous video he specifically mentioned calcining as a step when he was making mortar from ashes. He's definitely studied the chemistry behind what he's doing, and it shows.

[@SovietWomble]

Okay THAT is extremely cool. Particularly from 9:40 onwards. Just like that, an ape can get a metal blade. At a time when all the other animals are having to make do with claws and teeth. I've been dying to see you do metalworking stuff. Ever since that video with the small pellets of iron. Strongly encourage you to consider stuff like arrowheads, spearheads, etc. Fascinating to watch!

[@xenzorYT]

hi sovie

[@lordulberthellblaze6509]

ITS WOMBLE!

[@lordulberthellblaze6509]

fix your upload schedule.

[@laughingstockk]

ayo

[@Sire_aln]

I guess now we know what Womble does when he isn't uploading

[@copee2960]

Totally speechless ..every school kid should be made to watch this ...fantastic work.

[@geidsonmedrado353]

Esse canal maravilhoso sempre trás a essência do primitivismo e um modo antigo de fabricação para nosso deleite. Meus parabéns...

[@TR_Conqueror]

All these videos help us to understand the level of advancement humans have achieved over thousands of years and how immensely we must appreciate the technology we currently have... Imagine what great effort it took only to craft this small iron tip...

[@caboose9843]

Imagine being there at the tail end of the stone age and some dude pulls up with a shiny rock thats even better than normal rocks. That would literally shake my understanding of life. Its absolutely crazy how many innovations mankind has gone through to reach our status today

[@juliajs1752]

i really like that the subtitles are now even explanatory and educational, and not just descriptive. Awesome change!

[@terrydrew7002]

Been watching him for years and never once did I know that he had subtitles explaining what he's doing 🤯

[@juliajs1752]

@@terrydrew7002 I think a great many people had that revelation at one point or another!

[@VicJang]

@@terrydrew7002 well now you get to rewatch everything 😂

[@GussGames]

TIL this too, spread the good word!

[@ramonhamm3885]

I've seen the huge amount of iron filings that can be taken out of beach sand with a magnet too, another good source. Great video.

[@poemanx7297]

I have watched this channel for awhile, and to see an iron tool made is nothing short of incredible. Congrats on the achievement, looking forward to future vids.

[@Clickspring]

Outstanding effort, awesome result, congratulations mate :)

[@kkupsky6321]

When click spring appreciates yer doin great. Primitive rose engine is next haha

[@robbiekavanagh2802]

You best watch out Clickspring. This is only the beginning, he'll have a lathe in no time!

[@shookings]

Hey, no! You get back to your corner of KZbin.

[@unlink1649]

the insane amount of work he put into this

[@omarpeeps5109]

So, I watched John make the iron this morning and was inspired to spend some time in my workshop. While I was working on filing out a hole, I said out loud "G'day Chris here, and welcome back to Clickspring".

[@elirobertson2324]

Awesome job man! Been watching a few other videos of yours too, very inspiring. I live off grid with my own creei and ive been wanting to go collect iron from my sandy areas for so long to smelt my own iron for forging. Your fan for your smelter is so impressive!

[@olivierallaire6302]

The one and only not-fake PT channel!

[@Nomad_Audio]

I knew this day would come! Watching your technology improve over the years has been fascinating, but this is certainly a massive milestone. The new blower seems a very big step towards achieving the temps you need for iron smelting, and great to see that the iron yield is improving over previous attempts. Keep it up with the quality uploads...they're only getting better at the moment, and your detailed breakdown in the description greatly appreciated.

[@scruffex3736]

Fun fact: turn on subtitles for detailed live commentary

[@SpartansAndHeroes]

Turns out this was all fake and they have machinery

[@metformin3154]

@@SpartansAndHeroes What makes you say that?

[@ionlywantedtocomment3895]

@@metformin3154 i think its a joke coming from this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqfOZ2aCdqmVfMU that sunnyv2 did about fake primitive building channels

[@0Synergy]

@@SpartansAndHeroes did you even watch the fucking video sunny made? Hes shows Primitive Technology is legit the copy cats are not.

[@DareToRS]

I can't help but wonder how many collective human lifetimes' worth of discovery, experimentation, and innovation we just saw encapsulated in the process of divining an iron tool from bacteria. Congratulations, John!

[@Northraider123]

this has to be at least 50 generations....considering how much fucking about each generation would need to do to even get to the point of "hey these rocks melt when fire gets hot" the first person to actually figure the whole thing out....person probably ended up the base of some early religion I'd bet

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

Seriously, that had to be a ridiculously long period of trial and error

[@Dullahan00]

Iron ore deposits made by those bacteria in soils are sometimes known as "Bog Iron" and historically have been some of the easier and earliest exploited deposits in certain areas of the world. Its pretty cool tbh.

[@terenceokane]

SO MANY 'recipes' handed down for dozens of generations just to reach the next level. So many mistakes and happy accidents and right-place-right-times. To think it could have all started with just a hominid looking at a weird gloopy clump of lead next to a fire one day and realized they could shape it like they do stone.

[@terenceokane]

@@Dullahan00 That's awesome! I started getting into pre-history recently and have always loved anthro. Knowing that society spread for reasons like trade has always been basic stuff, but to start to learn that Britain had Tin and Cyrpus was named for it's copper, how much this all changed everything. Easy to nerd out!

[@TolaAlfrunKikula]

I would genuinely not be surprised to see a future video where you just have a full-on working black smith setup, completely made by yourself xD that is WILD

[@yuukikonno6804]

Imagine going out into the jungle and just finding a collection of primitive builds that he has made just sitting there. Would be amazing

[@nasty_jazz]

Jumped right over the bronze age! Congrats on a big milestone, John. Its been amazing to see the development over the years. Even more amazing is trying to imagine all of the labor, research, time- all the off camera work that you've put into your project!

[@tiagomrns]

it's iron though, not bronze

[@nonec384]

cuz peoplo think the order is bronze to iron but iron vastly more comun , the places that reaky lacked copper jumped right over to iron

[@Aaronrose575]

African cultures like Nok also skipped bronze age, actually, I think in Africa only Egypt and its surroundings used bronze other than ornaments, the rest of Africa went straight to iron age, either for Roman/Carthaginian influence, or for own merits

[@newtybot]

@@tiagomrns my dude He JUMPED over the Bronze Age As in, SKIPPED IT, as in IN THE IRON AGE

[@dmurray2978]

@@Aaronrose575 not in subsaharan Africa. They stayed stone age til evil Europeans came lmao

[@NauticalMongoose]

Watching this again and I always get great satisfaction from the metallic "SHUNK" sound the knife makes as he pries it out of the mold.

[@NM-ql9er]

Doesn't look like the iron you've extracted has become fully molten during the flamming process, but you've also probably maxed out how much heat you can get. Great work.

[@beepseatsfindingfoodtreasu8756]

Glad to see the the one and only true Primitive technology advancing to the iron age! Ive watched other channels and they not only use machine's but the so called raw materials they seemingly produce with no effort are a total tip off that they are just fakes. if anyone's tried to do some of these projects they know the amount of time it really takes to complete them. This Channel is pure gold. great seeing each and every video. You Sir are truly an original.

[@jacquestuber628]

I seriously think you people make these comments just to be acknowledged yourself.

[@humanperson9443]

Primitive technology is the og king

[@beepseatsfindingfoodtreasu8756]

@@jacquestuber628 well I'd call and tell him myself but that's not his style. But thanks for indulging me 🤣

[@oniplus4545]

iirc alec steele made some videos showing how hard it is to extract barely decent lump of iron, even with modern tools he still did some trial and errors to extract said iron, primitive technology shows us what can be extracted with ancient iron extraction techniques, a small barely shaped iron plate for a knife meanwhile the other "primitive channels" made large amount of iron ingots from digging out some dirts and stones they found along the way in just one try, it's kinda funny how they thought that people would stay believing them when it's really obvious by now

[@alexrodriguezgrajales5203]

Very impressive, but a little advise, avoid inhalating the gases that come out from the smokestack because its really heavy on PM10 and PM2.5 particles that will damage your lungs over the time. Always try to make sure to do the foundry in a nicely ventilated environment. Take care, great content.

[@mr.stronk9486]

Yeah, we don’t want our John hospitalised 👍

[@MercyKill022]

Noice chem

[@aga3708]

hes outside thats like the most ventilated you can get

[@MagDrag123]

Next episode: Primitive Medicine

[@TheBBQify]

"Primitive Technology: Lung Transplant"

[@TB-jl9fr]

I would love to see you casting a dozen of those iron ingots and forge them together making steel out of it :).

[@kaneego6281]

It wouldn't be steel, it would still just be a chunk of iron. Steel is created under very specific circumstances that are very hard to replicate with primitive tech

[@TB-jl9fr]

@@kaneego6281 Nope.

[@devincasebeer4459]

@@TB-jl9fr explain.

[@bloodfiredrake7259]

This channel has taught me that civilisation has advanced not by genius of man but by his persistence to iterate.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Excellent work! Are you able to melt the iron in the open top crucible without worrying about oxidation because the surrounding charcoal reduces the rust back to iron again? Are there any natural fluxes in your area to improve the melt?

[@nirodper]

I imagine the wood ash acts as flux, maybe deliberately putting a lot of wood ash on top helps

[@nubreed13]

Charcoal is such a dry fire that it can pull the oxides right out of the iron. The co2 made by the fire acts as a shielding gas to prevent the iron from oxidizing and it also adds some carbon to the iron.

[@plusmanikantanr]

@NightHawkInLight can you help John figure out how to get all the Spam Bots banned please ? I know some YT content creators now have scripts to find and block the spam comments. @4ncient people and @D3felsts or some such bot is doing "Reply" to peoples posts including yours here.

[@theEikern123]

fine sand can be a substitute to borax why not give that a shot?

[@dmurray2978]

More advanced than subsaharan Africa

[@ugin7CC]

the amount of iron prills you got is much more than before! it's so pleasing to see the progress, keep up the good work!