Failed Attempt #1

Saturday 8-23-08
7:50 PM

The diagnosis is simple, we need more heat

After a crude experiment intended to discover the melting point of iron I have made a completely different discovery: that charcoal was never meant to melt iron. This is at least true of the charcoal used in my setup.

The Setup

A floor of bricks (which I intended to use to eventually build a makeshift kiln) supports a smallish pile of commercial charcoal briquettes. I would estimate the number at 20. I had planned on using a standing fan to infuse oxygen into the system. After happening on a leafblower, however, that plan quickly changed. The leafblower worked admirably and produced about as hot of coals as I can imagine are easily attainable. On top of the coals rests a bent sheet of stainless steel which holds iron filings I collected with a magnet from the garden. My brother ended up holding the steel sheet so it wouldn't blow away. I saw no significant color/state change in the iron. I am not ready to dismiss charcoal altogether though. Perhaps in a more enclosed setup with less heat loss to the environment and a larger pile of coals the required temps can be reached.


Side Note

I used a propane (this is probably true, but the gas may be different) torch to light the briquettes and after it became clear that these were inadequate I tried the torch. The iron glowed a bright red but refused to liquify as far as I could tell. Later I attempted to melt some copper wire. This was a roaring success and gave me a morale boost for future attempts.

Second Thoughts

After posting what each of us considered to be a very successful and succinct introductory blog Taylor and I decided that there were still many issues to be decided. The first concrete decision was an amendment to the rules. While I still like rules 1 and 2 we decided that a third rule will help decide tech issues that arise and that is rule #3: Keep it fun, if fun ceases refer to rule #2.

We arrived at this decision through a discussion about charcoal... If we were to wholly embrace the idea of using primitive technologies in the smelting of iron we would face a huge number of obstacles, such as making the charcoal that I feel we will eventually need. While I would like to know how to make charcoal I don't really want to have to do it. That said, another tool I feel will be critical to our endeavors is a bellows. Taylor and I decided that a bellows is something we would both like to make. In short we faced a philosophical quandary. If we were going to allow the use of modern charcoal, yet insist on making a primitive bellows what kind of boundaries could we set?

Fun. That is the long and short of it. Making a bellows sounds fun, making charcoal doesn't. This is not to say that it won't be hard work, because I believe that it will, but at least we now know where we can draw the line.

the objective

To make either

1. a weapon

2. currency

The rules

1. No outside research. Nothing beyond our own heads. No people, internets, or books.

2. The rules may change based on frustration levels and mental state.

The technology

This aspect of the project is still under some fairly heated debate. Do we have to MAKE our own charcoal or crucibles? Do we have to make the bricks for the kiln (if that's even how this is done)? More details will follow as we would like this to be a challenging project, but if we have to make everything, this is not going to happen.

The reason

It began as a walk through Mineral Basin. The question arose "Who was the first person to smelt iron out of rock?" Jabbering ensued. This project is the result of that question.