Digging base
Stone floor to prevent rising damp
Harvesting termite clay
Mixing clay
Palm leaves for fiber
Floor layer
Furnace wall
Internal diameter 25 cm
Drying layer out
Bridge over door way with sticks
Clay over sticks
I could do about 5 layers a day due to the slow drying of the clay
It's important not to rush building the furnace or it will slump
Only add new clay when the last layer has stiffened
Total height 175 cm, time taken 7 days.
Making tuyere (air pipe) from clay.
Inner diameter 7.5 cm
Blocking up doorway
Positioning tuyere at 15 degree downward angle
Tuyere nose sticks into furnace
Bog ore formation about 1 km further down the creek
Ore roasting
Crushing ore to a powder
Wood for the furnace (no charcoal was used in this experiment)
Furnace stacked and lit from the top
The tall furnace draws a strong natural draft.
Adding wood and ore
Fuel bed can be seen through the tuyere. Estimated at least 1200 c if not higher.
After an hour and a half total, it was left to burn down.
The next day the tuyere was seen to have been covered with slag (no metallic iron though)
Slag from the bottom of the furnace
The slag was magnetic but had no metalic iron
Natural draft furnace