Just think. Before reading this essay, the deepest I'd thought about iron was "pumping iron" and curing my cast iron pan. I'm always impressed by how you can transform something seemingly mundane into an entertaining journey. Great work!
Interesting link on an episode of human experimentation around infectious agents. Then again, we are all unpaid volunteers when it comes to the countless number of novel and untested chemicals that end up in our food, water and living environments.
Q fever is rather remarkable. An intracellular bacterium that normally hangs around in goats and other animals in this part of the world, of unknown origin. Usually intracellular bacteria are pretty fragile things but this one survives just fine in the open environment (such that some people pick up the bug during windy weather from dust blowing off livestock yards). It is also supposedly the most efficiently infectious microbe known, with just a single viable cell being enough to cause an infection in humans. I considered getting the vaccine for Q fever, but after a few years of handling the goats I suspected I had already been exposed and developed an asymptomatic case (like the majority of people) and become immune naturally. Even after what happened I think I took the most sensible approach, just got unlucky in the end. I am 90% sure I remember being splashed in the face with the water from the bucket I used to cull an unwanted buck kid after birth exactly 2 weeks before my symptoms started. What would life be without a fair smattering of suffering for all its magnificent creatures?
As I work with and around cattle I took the step of getting tested and vaccinated. Even so, it's a little bit uncertain how much immunity that gives me, and for how long.
I have a friend who had Q-fever and the doctors were completely baffled for a while. She hadn't worked directly with cattle, but as you say 1-10 cells is enough so you could potentially pick it up from driving through a cattle producing areas given that the urine and faeces from cattle trucks is discharged onto the roads.
Interesting read. My partner is a metal man. Stainless steel is his go-to material. (Whereas I prefer working with wood - using metal tools of course) I used to feel frustrated and concerned about the embedded energy in the steel artefacts he creates. Now I shrug and think that the steel will be found and re-used and recycled by generations to come.
btw I had to look up Q fever. Hope it's passing and you feel better soon.
I'm 90% back to normal but taking care not to set myself back by doing too much too soon. I do a fair bit of bamboo work with metal tools and often stop to wonder what techniques would be possible without metal tools to catalyse all the transformations. People have been making baskets a hell of a lot longer than they have been smelting metal.
Питання полягає в тому що багато сталі знаходиться у великогабаритному стані і буде ще тією задачею якось її подрібнити.
Інша частина знаходиться у вигляді тонких матеріалів та покриттів, які швидко струхнуть без можливості переробки...
Колись в дитинстві я бачив багато залізних деталей, від яких майже нічого не залишилось на нашій території, крім кількох кованих гвіздків, які я спеціально зберіг(вишлю для тебе фото)
Вони походять від остова плуга, тобто основної частини, яким мої предко орали землю протягом століть. Коли плуг переламався його переплавили на ножі, стамески, гвіздки, які використали в тому числі при будівництві старої хати(саме їх я і бачив в дитинстві). Сволоки з хати пізніше були використані для хліва для свиней, а ось нещодавно кілька пішли на ніжки лавки, дрова та товкач і ще прослужать кілька десятків років.
Беручи до прикладу досвід, можу сказати, що більшість сталі окисниться, а нержавіюча сталь буде використовуватись ощадливо ще довгі століття і її вистачить ще на багато-багато років, бо ні такого великого населення ні такої великої потреби не буде.
Ще більш унікальний спосіб ощадливості я побачив прочитавши книгу про епоху Едо, тому думаю будемо рухатись за схожим принципом :)
Translated: Thank you) It was interesting to hear exactly your thoughts :)
The problem is that a lot of steel is in a large-sized state and it will be another task to somehow grind it.
The rest is in the form of thin materials and coatings that will quickly crumble without the possibility of recycling...
Once when I was a child, I saw a lot of iron parts, from which almost nothing remained on our territory, except for a few forged nails, which I specially saved (I will send you a photo)
They come from the plow frame, that is, the main part, with which my ancestors plowed the land for centuries. When the plow broke, it was remelted into knives, chisels, and nails, which were also used during the construction of the old house (I saw them in my childhood). The scum from the house was later used for a pig shed, but recently a few went into bench legs, firewood and a pestle and will serve for several decades.
Taking experience as an example, I can say that most steel will oxidize, and stainless steel will be used sparingly for many centuries to come and will last for many, many more years, because neither such a large population nor such a great need will exist.
I saw an even more unique way of frugality after reading a book about the Edo period, so I think we will follow a similar principle :)
And Reply- Thanks for the photo of the old nail. It is such a shock to see such a common item hand crafted and full of personality. It reminds me of a story of how the first settlers in the USA would burn down their houses to retrieve all the nails quickly since wood was overabundant but iron was in critically short supply.
Hi Shane. I wonder if you have heard of "bog iron"... it is a phenomenon we see around here, as water drainage out of a peaty field is often orangey red and full of iron. This is locally known as "spa water" and seemingly has its origin in a certain set of bacterial processes. That said, I have not yet come across any accounts of this water being used in any form of "health spa". https://www.britannica.com/science/bog-iron-ore
On the topic of using it as a source for smelting iron, these iron-smithing re-enactment festivals have become rather popular in Ireland, and I hope to get to one very soon, although I have not yet managed it. https://www.furnacefestival.ie/
If you still have time to be looking at videos and stuff, there are plenty of lovely smelting and other iron working videos on that site, as people demonstrate to each other their efforts to recover some of the traditional, local techniques.
Bog iron is definitely a topic I will be covering in the follow up post. Our home grown Primitive Technology YouTube channel from the tropical end of my state has done some videos where he spends days scraping together barely enough smelted iron for a butter knife. There are a handful of people preserving ancient preindustrial techniques. Whether that culture survives a century of chaos and contraction is another issue.
Just think. Before reading this essay, the deepest I'd thought about iron was "pumping iron" and curing my cast iron pan. I'm always impressed by how you can transform something seemingly mundane into an entertaining journey. Great work!
Q fever, nasty. And a bit tricky to diagnose.
And then there’s this: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2003/10/24/october-24-2003-operation-whitecoat/15055/
Interesting link on an episode of human experimentation around infectious agents. Then again, we are all unpaid volunteers when it comes to the countless number of novel and untested chemicals that end up in our food, water and living environments.
Q fever is rather remarkable. An intracellular bacterium that normally hangs around in goats and other animals in this part of the world, of unknown origin. Usually intracellular bacteria are pretty fragile things but this one survives just fine in the open environment (such that some people pick up the bug during windy weather from dust blowing off livestock yards). It is also supposedly the most efficiently infectious microbe known, with just a single viable cell being enough to cause an infection in humans. I considered getting the vaccine for Q fever, but after a few years of handling the goats I suspected I had already been exposed and developed an asymptomatic case (like the majority of people) and become immune naturally. Even after what happened I think I took the most sensible approach, just got unlucky in the end. I am 90% sure I remember being splashed in the face with the water from the bucket I used to cull an unwanted buck kid after birth exactly 2 weeks before my symptoms started. What would life be without a fair smattering of suffering for all its magnificent creatures?
As I work with and around cattle I took the step of getting tested and vaccinated. Even so, it's a little bit uncertain how much immunity that gives me, and for how long.
I have a friend who had Q-fever and the doctors were completely baffled for a while. She hadn't worked directly with cattle, but as you say 1-10 cells is enough so you could potentially pick it up from driving through a cattle producing areas given that the urine and faeces from cattle trucks is discharged onto the roads.
Anyway, get well soon! :)
Interesting read. My partner is a metal man. Stainless steel is his go-to material. (Whereas I prefer working with wood - using metal tools of course) I used to feel frustrated and concerned about the embedded energy in the steel artefacts he creates. Now I shrug and think that the steel will be found and re-used and recycled by generations to come.
btw I had to look up Q fever. Hope it's passing and you feel better soon.
I'm 90% back to normal but taking care not to set myself back by doing too much too soon. I do a fair bit of bamboo work with metal tools and often stop to wonder what techniques would be possible without metal tools to catalyse all the transformations. People have been making baskets a hell of a lot longer than they have been smelting metal.
Дякую) Було цікаво почути саме твої думки :)
Питання полягає в тому що багато сталі знаходиться у великогабаритному стані і буде ще тією задачею якось її подрібнити.
Інша частина знаходиться у вигляді тонких матеріалів та покриттів, які швидко струхнуть без можливості переробки...
Колись в дитинстві я бачив багато залізних деталей, від яких майже нічого не залишилось на нашій території, крім кількох кованих гвіздків, які я спеціально зберіг(вишлю для тебе фото)
Вони походять від остова плуга, тобто основної частини, яким мої предко орали землю протягом століть. Коли плуг переламався його переплавили на ножі, стамески, гвіздки, які використали в тому числі при будівництві старої хати(саме їх я і бачив в дитинстві). Сволоки з хати пізніше були використані для хліва для свиней, а ось нещодавно кілька пішли на ніжки лавки, дрова та товкач і ще прослужать кілька десятків років.
Беручи до прикладу досвід, можу сказати, що більшість сталі окисниться, а нержавіюча сталь буде використовуватись ощадливо ще довгі століття і її вистачить ще на багато-багато років, бо ні такого великого населення ні такої великої потреби не буде.
Ще більш унікальний спосіб ощадливості я побачив прочитавши книгу про епоху Едо, тому думаю будемо рухатись за схожим принципом :)
Translated: Thank you) It was interesting to hear exactly your thoughts :)
The problem is that a lot of steel is in a large-sized state and it will be another task to somehow grind it.
The rest is in the form of thin materials and coatings that will quickly crumble without the possibility of recycling...
Once when I was a child, I saw a lot of iron parts, from which almost nothing remained on our territory, except for a few forged nails, which I specially saved (I will send you a photo)
They come from the plow frame, that is, the main part, with which my ancestors plowed the land for centuries. When the plow broke, it was remelted into knives, chisels, and nails, which were also used during the construction of the old house (I saw them in my childhood). The scum from the house was later used for a pig shed, but recently a few went into bench legs, firewood and a pestle and will serve for several decades.
Taking experience as an example, I can say that most steel will oxidize, and stainless steel will be used sparingly for many centuries to come and will last for many, many more years, because neither such a large population nor such a great need will exist.
I saw an even more unique way of frugality after reading a book about the Edo period, so I think we will follow a similar principle :)
And Reply- Thanks for the photo of the old nail. It is such a shock to see such a common item hand crafted and full of personality. It reminds me of a story of how the first settlers in the USA would burn down their houses to retrieve all the nails quickly since wood was overabundant but iron was in critically short supply.
Hi Shane. I wonder if you have heard of "bog iron"... it is a phenomenon we see around here, as water drainage out of a peaty field is often orangey red and full of iron. This is locally known as "spa water" and seemingly has its origin in a certain set of bacterial processes. That said, I have not yet come across any accounts of this water being used in any form of "health spa". https://www.britannica.com/science/bog-iron-ore
On the topic of using it as a source for smelting iron, these iron-smithing re-enactment festivals have become rather popular in Ireland, and I hope to get to one very soon, although I have not yet managed it. https://www.furnacefestival.ie/
If you still have time to be looking at videos and stuff, there are plenty of lovely smelting and other iron working videos on that site, as people demonstrate to each other their efforts to recover some of the traditional, local techniques.
Bog iron is definitely a topic I will be covering in the follow up post. Our home grown Primitive Technology YouTube channel from the tropical end of my state has done some videos where he spends days scraping together barely enough smelted iron for a butter knife. There are a handful of people preserving ancient preindustrial techniques. Whether that culture survives a century of chaos and contraction is another issue.
Thanx for sharing your thoughts. As always Shane ftw 👍