How To Melt Iron With Nothing But Wood, Leather, and Clay - Townsends Blacksmith Shop
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2020
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"If you're a long time viewer, you know what material we're going to use..."
Nutmeg?
Jon may or may not have sprinkled a little in when the cameras were off.
Yep beat me too it!
It's like that quest to get the blacksmith fire salts in Skyrim, but instead he puts nutmeg into the fire to get it extra hot!
Lol, that was my first thought too!
Same
You never cease to amaze me John. My all time favorite RUclips show.
Thank you so much!
@@townsends Truth be told, you are a great man, John.
@@mayorgeneralramirez1997 Agreed.
Yeah great content 👌...watching this on my narrowboat in the UK feeling like a king 🤴
I would like to suggest backing that bellows away from the forge. Make a clay pipe, or a metal pipe to go between the bellows and the forge. That way, the nozzle of the bellows isn't damaged by the radiant heat. It would be easier to replace a clay or disposable metal pipe than rebuild the front end of the bellows.
Not a bad idea. Also some side blast forges have water cabinets built around the nozzle or tuyere.
That's a really good idea. Keeping the leather as far from the heat as possible will increase its useful lifespan.
This would also make the Title honest. There is metal in that system.
@@johnrobinson4445 still metal in the tacks holding the leather on
I was thing same thing. What He calls the Bowl more oblong and the tweair . Can pointing more to the bottom of what He calls the Bowl .
Townsend's truly is a gift, thank you so much for all the free resources and history you give us!
Thank you for watching! It's our pleasure.
hello Townsends how are you
@Wody HG, when the end of civilization comes, those who subscribed to the Townsends channel will thrive.
The sound of that bellow is so much more satisfying than a electric fan or even a manual rotary fan. Love it!
Next level Historical content provisioning - never seen a forge built
I've seen plenty of forges before, but they were always in larger historical buildings and were the kind of thing you'd see in a large, professional urban smith's shop. This kind of backyard ingenuity is probably what most people of the day were familiar with. Very cool :)
Metallurgical engineer here. Always interesting to put historical context to what has evolved into the primary metals and metals processing industry. The techniques are still familiar but merely updated. What was once mostly an art with accidental and trial and error discovery is now mostly technology.
What a lot of people don't realize: the forests that were cleared during the American Westward Expansion were generally *not* used for lumber for buildings, but for *charcoal* for blacksmiths!
Another (typical) *EXCELLENT* episode!
Thank you!
The forests of Europe met the same end.it is mind boggling how much charcoal it really took to keep industry going at those times
@@josiahtheblacksmith467 And (almost all of) the actually ancient forests of Europe met that end by the early iron age! Almost everything after that was in some way cultivated/ managed.
On a only tangentially related note, the greatest amount of land 'under the plow' in the UK was during the bronze age! Lack of efficiency drove land expansion, and the land that was later abandoned became the moors of today, a pseudo-artificial landscape that was once ancient forest but wasn't good enough to make agriculture worthwhile anytime after the bronze age.
I always assumed it was for cooking fuel. Even the simplest recipes of the time say stuff like "boil for 6 hours" and the amount of fuel necessary to run an average household (both for heating and cooking) must have been enormous.
@@Raskolnikov70 I agree with you. A lot of wood must have been used that way. Shipbuilding required a whole lot of mature trees of various species. Not to take away from the vast amount of forest needed to make charcoal.
@@farmerboy916 well smelting bronze and copper takes a lot of charcoal too so it makes sense that the deforestation started much earlier. Good information.
It really is amazing what’s possible with simple materials, I’ve seen this done on smaller scale but seeing it with such large handmade bellows like that is really cool.
It was such a fun project. Glad you enjoyed it!
Townsends Thank you for doing it! As always very interesting, informative, and entertaining :D. Also you all did an amazing job!
Sometimes there are videos on Townsends that I am not as interested in (like this particular one) but I still want them to get the view count and ad revenue, so I'll play it in the background while I go about some chores. I still find listening to the videos really nice.
After my father had been retired for a few years he decided he wanted to build a blacksmith shop. He had no idea how to do metal working, nor had he ever done this kind of work before. At the same time we took a family vacation to St Augustine FL (weird to go on vacation with my mom and dad when you are an adult but so glad I did) we visited an old village I think called Colonial Quarter. They had all kinds of historic actors/guides talking about life in old St Augustine. They had a blacksmith and my dad visited with him for a long time. My father got ideas for building his own shop. My dad never got a chance to finish that blacksmith shop, he passed away about half way through construction. Not sure why I felt like writing this, I don't have a point to the story. Thank you for the video.
"If we can't use wood and we can't use iron, what are we gonna use? Well if you've been on this channel any amount of time at all..."
Me: _N U T M E G_
thought the same thing.
It's like watching a real life Minecraft session. Start with some basic tools and upgrade all the way to a residence. Amazing.
The single mini blooper is always a wonderful surprise and a nice touch.
As a blacksmith, this series has me HOOKED! Love it, can't wait to see more.
Any videos for advice on getting started I would love to be able to design and make my own daggers
@@yepp54 bit late, hope you got going..... chandler Dickenson, Walter Sorrells, Black Bear Forge, Daniel Moss, Freerk Wieringa, Big Dog Forge.
We're all going to need to get back to doing all this again soon I bet.
@Joshua Riley ........ Could be lol.
I am a german and i show all of your videos.
I like what you do, keep it up!
For anyone outside the usa: 2000°F = 1100°C
Great video, very interesting topic
Thank you! As I was thinking No way in hell they are going to get 2000 in this cute little construct. But 1100 is perfectly reasonable.
I love the little bloopers that have been added in, in recent videos.
Every one of your videos is truly a mini masterpiece epic. Such incredible work you always deliver. Thank you!
This is no joke. I love this channel.
@@benr6918 o
I had a brief moment of concern for the bottom hem of Jon’s pants while he was mixing the cob. Reminding myself: *It’s not real. His wife did not hand sew those pants. You don’t need to feel bad for the pants.*
I am very curious about where he got his wrap shirt, though. A lot of raw edges, it looks like. It makes my fingers twitch.
This is so freaking cool!
This isn't just historical anymore, you know:
While some destroy, others build.
I feel like I'm watch a show like "This Olde House" on PBS, but filmed 200 years ago.
And, I love it!!
I was actually thinking about ironworking and blacksmithing, in general, the other day. Good timing!
That worked perfect. That was some serious heat.
We're very happy with it!
You dumped over the wheel barrow. Hahaha Good one, Jon! Your reaction was HILARIOUS!
1 nil as we say on site
A TRUE view of what our ancestors went through to build America! I only wish more people would watch these very informative videos and get what it took and become not so dependent on modern day luxuries such as go buy it the store or electricity! I want to sent up a small blacksmith area in my small shop because I have a wonderful stove I heat the shop with in the winter. This project has given me the courage to find an anvil and use an fan to heat up the iron! Love from NW Colorado. Thanxz
Mr townsend I know what this work does to your physical body. Thank you and your poor spine for keeping this suff alive. You are an American treasure.
i love how not only you made a smithy of the period, but also used only traditional tools to make everything.
Thank you for this series, Jon! I remember when you questioned continuing making YT videos... but watching your videos helps to keep me grounded in the day to day. You almost make me want to quit my job, buy some land, and start all over from scratch. But the wife and kid wouldn't appreciate that...
I can't believe the dedication and quality of this RUclips channel - that alone is remarkable in this century!
I'm so glad there is a renaissance of old ways in these modern times. It's hard work sure but a much better way of living. I think if we can find a balance between the old and the new we can find a way to solve a lot of our worlds problems. Always wishing the best for you and yours.
If you ever get to the Boston area you MUST check out the Saugus Ironworks. First ironworks in the new world.
I love your dedication, John! Keep it up!
Thank you!
I've been stuck watching a bunch of blacksmithing vids recently and then one of my fav youtubers goes and makes a blacksmithing vid. Props!
I cannot stress just how much I'm enjoying the blacksmith videos. Your food videos are well made, but not a subject matter I'm particularly interested in. I am however a huge fan of projects involving construction and engineering like these. Of course I imagine the time, cost, and energy involved with such projects increases by orders of magnitude, but that makes us appreciate them all the more. Keep up the great work and thank you
I’m a blacksmith and I love this content.
But I bet you use propane with your forge
@@planejet42 AND propane accessories
Hey John, I'm a blacksmith and I make my own charcoal. I'd love to see how charcoal was made in the 18th century. Great video once again.
Here is one from the guys at primitive tech: ruclips.net/video/GzLvqCTvOQY/видео.html
I can't find it right now but if you know about Guedelon castle in France, they also demonstrate 13th century charcoal making techniques.
@@benmiller3358 thanks man, much appreciated
My god I've said it before I'll say it again. What a high quality channel you guys are! We are lucky to have you on RUclips.
Well I'm blown away. I've been interested in blacksmithing for some time, but can't afford the forge and hand-cranked blower. Yet you build one from WOOD and MUD!! Amazing, thanks so much for sharing your incredible knowledge.
"What material are we going to use. If you've watched this channel for a while you'll guess it's...." - I was totally thinking you were going to say Nutmeg. 😂
3:16 a wild roan, the pioneers used to ride those puppies for miles!
As I hobbyist blacksmith that prefers traditional techniques I appreciate this episode. Much love from the southwest
Every video you put out makes me want to jump into the past for a day just to experience what life was actually like back then
Just a note: can you actually *melt* iron in a forge like that? The melting point of iron is after all 2800 fahrenheit. At least in the early bloomeries (where the environment was a lot hotter than is needed for regular blacksmithing) the temperature didn't have to reach the iron's melting point, only the melting point of the surrounding slag. The iron would then reduce and combine with the charcoal and forms a sponge iron.
Yes and no. You can certainly melt or burn bits of your iron off, but not usefully melt any quantity. If nothing else, you need more insulation and more (and more consistent) air
No, that shouldn't be able to melt but works perfectly fine for a forge. All examples I've seen for a period-correct bloomery would be based on these same types of materials but would be rather larger and chimney-shaped.
Another great one!
Hey nighthawk, love your videos. Keep up your good work
I've been looking for a cheap way to make a forge for my welding shop. A leaf blower and a cob "bowl" will work perfectly. Thank you for sharing.
The homestead series is by far the best one yet from your channel! I'm hooked, have been hooked, and continue to be hooked on your channel!
Welcome aboard!
Just what I needed to see. Thank you!
Incredible! Love this homestead series
Glad you are enjoying it!
Mr Townsend, you are most likely the nicest person on RUclips. Love your videos, love your enthusiasm and love the historical content.
What a treat it is to see these videos when my reenacting season has been canceled for 2020. Thank you for all of the hard work and interesting videos.
God bless ' Ken in Chicagoland
Great work as always! I have a question though; both this forge and the pole lathe you made seem to be equipment that can be moved very easily, with the large fixtures all being made on site. Would these work places be moved as the settlers pushed west or are they just the first steps to more permanent facilities?
These would most likely be more permanent structures.
@@townsends thank you!
I love this! As a blacksmith myself, I'm always excited to see videos like this! Do you think you could make a video showing how people made charcoal back in the day?
They stacked the wood into something like a pyramid cover it in clay/dirt with a little smokestack hole & monitor the burn for hours/days in shifts making sure not to fully burn the wood there's of course more details to it but that's the general gist
It was a joy watching you make the forge! Looking forwards to see more videos with it in use!
I REALLY enjoyed this one! My 4th Great Grandfather, Elisha Bradley, was a Blacksmith in Kentucky in the early 1800s, and I’m so glad I was able to see what it may have been like for him. I think he started smithing during the Madison/Monroe Administrations.
I'd love to know how anvils were made back then,
considering the simple form of it, the anvil would have probably been cast in a 2 part mold. A thing that should be noted is that an anvil could be even smaller than the one in the video.
Anvils at the time period in question were made of wrought iron with a plow steel face. The anvil was built up by forge welding smaller pieces of iron together into a cohesive whole. On the frontier an anvil would most likely be a post anvil such as we saw later in the video. Here is a video of a very talented Smith making a model anvil the old way. ruclips.net/video/LsCDS35a7aQ/видео.html
With a much bigger bellows, I'd imagine.
Carefully.
@@TheMasterOfCornedy anvils are forged not cast , cast iron is brittle and useless for such work
Stoke the fire! May your steel be strong and everlasting!
То что вы делаете - просто потрясающе! Я получил огромное удовольствие от просмотра ваших видео. Желаю удачи и процветания вашему каналу!😊
I'm constantly blown away by the production value of your videos.
Awesome video sir. I’ve always wondered how they kept it from catching fire. Now I can go back to wondering how the first metal was worked, without a form of anvil and hammer. Ancient times, not 17th century.
If you think about bronze, it was smelt from tin and copper, poured into clay molds with desired shape. After cooling down it was finished on wet stones of varying hardness and grit.
Iron needed more heat to be extracted from raw ore, but afterwards it could be worked over with relatively simple tools. Stone, wood, antler etc. Of course it would result in a very, very rough and primitive items - but they in turn could be used to make better, more sophisticated tools. I mean - if you could put a lump of iron on the end of the branch, then you had a hammer. Bigger lump of iron could serve as an anvil. From there things would go easier.
Ancient metallurgy is an fascinating area to study :)
Unless you live on a coral island, there's never a shortage of stones.
@@FrikInCasualMode Yes it is! I wish I could view the evolution of the technology over the centuries. From the first time some early humans saw something shiny coming out of a rock in a camp fire, to presumably using granite as the first hammers, to finally using a wad of copper at the end of a stick as a hammer. The innovations over the centuries would be so fascinating to see. So much trial and error, with so few resources. Only human stubbornness moved us out of the stone age.
A stone anvil and hammer until iron tools, most likely. Using copper or bronze as a hammer would be less ideal than stone for a few reasons; it's softer, would smoosh quickly while working, would literally melt onto the iron in small amounts (which is a technique you can use to give iron a nice finish, but less than desirable if it's your tools melting; also prevents forge welding), and I'd bet that even hot wrought iron is harder than copper.
@@facina3390 Try Primitve Skills. He's more subsistence farming focused but he recently spent a fair bit of time forging. Initially with no tools other than a stump anvil and a big wooden mallet, then made his own hammer and tongs to upgrade ect.
your friend got those fresh bifocal glasses straight from Ben Franklin.
It's really nice to see someone has so much passion for historical American culture. This is definitely one of my favorite cozy channels
I love viewing the old methods and techniques....the hard work yet true resourceful simplicity of it all amazes me each and every time
1:00 "...if we can't use wood and we can't use iron what are we going to use? Well if you have been on this channel any amount of time at all..." I was expecting nutmeg.
a forge!
This homestead series has brought the channel to a new level. I watch these over and over! I'd like to point out, though (since so many folks think this set-up simple and cheap), that there are a lot of ready-made tools in this little shop. You can't just make a blacksmith shop out of trees and cobb. Pioneer blacksmiths brought tools with them to the west.
Great to see this channel still uploads. There's just something so intriguing about medieval culture and technology.
Can't use metal? Can't use wood? Time to roll up your pants and get your feet dirty.
That's how it usually goes with our outdoor projects haha!
@@townsends Arguably the best part.
Easier if you had kids, they'd probably enjoy the job!
Hopefully Jon doesn't get worms...
Man, you should do a collab with Alec Steele, he'd probably freakin' love making something with an old school forge.
Enclave but where would he plug in the power hammer? 😂
Nahhhhhhhhh. His videos are super modern and a little annoying. Townsends are classic and relaxing. They would clash
@@planejet42 I would imagine if they did a collab where he's using this forge that the video would not be filmed in the style his videos typically are so I don't imagine that would be much of a problem.
Whoa, I must have missed this one a while back. AMAZING video. I think I like it so much because it's a real piece of technology. Simple construction, simple parts, but ingenious design, and it actually works -- and works well! It opens up a ton of blacksmithing possibilities, but it works well even at the smaller scale you have made.
I keep coming back to these homestead videos and they make me as excited and happy as they did the first time I watched them. The law of diminished returns has no hold for me. Keep building and making one of the best educational/entertainment channels on RUclips.
What's the dog's name?
Sophie!
@@townsends What a good puppy!
Jon I always enjoy a guest appearance by Sophie.
first
This channel helps me deal with my anxiety. Keep up the good work, you all are great.
The way John curls his hands while mixing the cobb...a child at heart ☺
Hi everyone, I enjoyed this episode so much. Love seeing education in action. My favorites are building the log cabin and the emergency shelter in the woods along with making oiled cloth. Virginia in northern Ohio
I've really enjoyed this whole adventure with the blacksmith shop. Colonial food does tend toward a predictable goal, but the manufacture of implements, along with your cabin raising, are of great interest to me. Keep up the good work!
Congrats on getting the blacksmith shop up and running! Blacksmithing is a wonderful art, have fun working with iron!
I am very exicted you have included a blacksmith shop on the homestead! A blacksmith shop would add to the income of a homestead. Some in cash mostly in barter. Thank you for including this on the your homestead! I look forward to seeing what other projects come from the blacksmith ship. I am quite sure that Jon graded some nutmeg on the charcoals when no one was looking .
In these times that can seem so dark this channel is like a bright burning star lighting up the night. Keep doing what you are doing, you bring peace to this world.
We need these old ways. Thank you for everything.
Bit by bit the farm starts to take shape. I can only imagine (for the future) being able to take a virtual tour or even a interactive game/teaching tool. Kids and adults learning about this fabulous living history farm.
I got this tricorn hat I bought from online shop, and everytime I watch your video it is an unnegotiable term for me to wear it.
Human beings inventiveness will never cease to amaze me!
Love these type of episodes. Anything to do with the cabin or life in the 18th/17th century frontier. Loooove it.
Oooh! This was fascinating! Gifting us with first class content as always, John! I love your passion project.
Regardless of whether it's cooking, building, blacksmithing or anything else- these crafty, outdoorsy videos (and that includes the cabin videos too!) are always my favorites, without fail.
It's actually pretty amazing how essential a blacksmith really was. I think many modern people don't realize just how many everyday items the blacksmith made by hand. Often hundreds (if not thousands) of them, things such as nails, hooks, pins, screws, bolts, fasteners, tool parts (hammer heads, awl shafts, etc..), spikes, chains... and of course horseshoes. I seriously doubt a blacksmith would ever have not had something to do.
Just a couple tips for the forge:
1) Using charcoal (as is traditional) will work great. If you would use coal for any reason, be mindful of clinker buildup at the tuyere
2) Make sure to raise that anvil up so you don’t strain your back. The anvil should be knuckle height with a closed fist while standing upright
And just a minor nitpick, but a blacksmith doesn’t “melt” metal. Instead, we are purely heating metal until it is malleable enough to be formed.
Otherwise, fantastic video! Keep up the great work!
This channel gets better and better over time.
I just keep finding amazing primitive toolcraft videos. You truly capture life in colonial times.
I love watching blacksmithing videos, I hope you guys use this a lot. Very entertaining, thank you all.
I’ve loved watching this whole process.
I was so excited when they built the bellows, and it is amazing to see the blacksmith shop in use. Excellent episode
Jon, you are the best educator on living history. I love your work!
Wow, this is great! I love this channel! It's my favorite and the first I ever subscribed to on RUclips! You never disappoint!
Really liking this series. The food shows are good but the technology shows are very good too.
Oh, man. This has me excited! I can't wait to see your upcoming vids! 😀
I had a good laugh when you tipped the wheel barrow over. It's interesting to watch you make these things.