January 2010
1 post
Watch7 minutes on how to build an electric telegraph in the wilderness, using nothing modern except information.
December 2009
1 post
November 2009
12 posts
WatchHere’s the last video from this session, showing the assembly of the telegraph. Step by step, I’ve shown how a person could have made an electronic technology without the aid of industry- and thus at any point in history. Of course, no one past modern times will ever need to do this, even in the event of complete social collapse; there will be so much metal and material lying around to...
WatchHere’s a video of the successful smelting furnace in action. This technology was unquestionably the biggest barrier in the process. Once I had a fire hot enough to smelt copper, I was able to make iron in a couple extra days. The tiny little pocket of fire is about focus, I think- focusing the energy of charcoal and air to reach a temperature not found ordinarily in nature- in fact, probably...
October 2009
6 posts
I'm back
I’ve arrived in Mineral County once again, armed with some new knowledge and the most precious commodity: time, two weeks of it. Construction of a new smelting furnace starts right away, and hopefully before long I’ll have shiny lumps of metal in my hand. A telegraph is a short hop from there, a conceptual leap more than a technical one. Liz was unable to join me this time, so I...
June 2009
24 posts
WatchThe results of a five hour firing loaded with roasted chalcopyrite ore. Nothing. For now, we remain stuck in the neolithic: able to process wood, stone, plant fiber and leather, start and maintain charcoal fire, locate metal ores, but unable to separate them from their compounds. Not hot enough? Not reducing enough? For this first session, I’ve fallen short of the miraculous, but I’ll...
WatchConstructing a Smelting Furnace.
This pit is where I hope to smelt my copper ores in a charcoal fire. The bellows were constructed with two deer hides given to me as a gift. I did not head off into the woods with my stone tools and kill a deer, or pick apart a carcass for these, so there is another invisible technological process that has taken place. Still, a deer hide is a reasonable thing to...
WatchStep 4: Fire via Bow Drill
I’ve spent the last five days bloodying my hands, gathering various combinations of wood using sharpened stones, carving indentations in stones with other stones, stripping fiber for hours from dead plants by the river and twisting them into filaments for more hours, to do the job of a 50 cent item from any gas station, a lighter. There are plenty of people alive...
WatchStep 3: Gathering Wood for Charcoal
I’m putting my ax craftsmanship to the test by attempting to cut down a tree. But, maybe there’s a better way…
WatchStep 2: Making an Ax
It is important that I succeed in making a sturdy, sharp ax able to cut wood for tools and fuel for my smelting furnace.
WatchStep 1: Making a Basket
I stripped the bark from this cotton wood tree that was chewed down by a beaver so that I could make a basket. The basket will be useful in collecting and carrying anything I will need along the way.
