The amazing man who produces iron using only wood, bark, fibre and clay

Name: The amazing man who produces iron using only wood, bark, fibre and clay | Aeon Videos
Uploaded: 2016-08-23
Duration: 5 min
Description: The amazing man who produces iron using only wood, bark, fibre and clay

The popular Primitive Technology blog features an unnamed man in Far North Queensland, Australia building tools and structures using only raw, found materials. In this instalment, the man builds a new device he refers to as a ‘bow blower’ – a combination of a primitive drill and a manually powered fan – used to keep a fire burning hot enough to produce iron. The result is a stunning combination of ingenuity, expertise and determination. To learn more about the step-by-step process while watching, turn on closed captions in the YouTube video player.

Video by Primitive Technology

23 August 2016

Post

Painting of a black bird with a red tail on a white tree branch set against a blue sky and yellow landscape.

videoNature and landscape

Scenes from Aboriginal Australian pottery chart the turn of the seasons

7 minutes

Illustration of three people, one with wide eyes and mouth open, another holding their head, third timing with a pocket watch.

videoMedicine

Drinking wine from toxic cups was the 17th century’s own dubious ‘detox’ treatment

11 minutes

Painting of a vast landscape featuring rocky hills, a woman with a child and distant snow-capped mountains under a cloudy sky.

videoNature and landscape

After independence, Mexico was in search of identity. These paintings offered a blueprint

15 minutes

3D rendering of an ancient water clock with zodiac signs and blue water flowing into a container on a wooden surface.

videoEngineering

How water-based clocks revolutionised the way we measure time

10 minutes

Photo of a man lying on a bed with white sheets, looking peaceful against a blue background.

videoConsciousness and altered states

What do screens depicting serene natural scenes mean to those living in lock-up?

12 minutes

Photo of a modern house built over a waterfall, surrounded by dense green forest and a rocky stream.

videoArchitecture

A lush tour of Fallingwater – the Frank Lloyd Wright design that changed architecture

14 minutes

Photo of a woman in a floral headscarf with a man in the background against a rural autumn landscape under a clear sky.

videoHome

Life moves slowly in a Romanian mountain village, shaped by care and the seasons

13 minutes

Aerial photo of a large circular crater with a dark centre in a brown landscape, resembling an impact site.

videoEnvironmental history

In Kazakhstan, ‘atomic lakes’ still scar the landscape decades after Soviet nuclear tests

13 minutes

A painting of a mythical forest scene with centaurs, satyrs and wild animals in a chaotic setting.

videoNature and landscape

‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden

5 minutes