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Smelting Iron in Africa (A DEMONSTRATION)

Christopher Roy · documentary · Watch on YouTube

Woodworking, metalworking & workshop skillsMaterials scienceDocumentaries & storytelling

What it is

A 105-minute film of a West African smith family in Burkina Faso smelting iron from ore, from making charcoal and building the kiln to forging tools. It is a cultural recreation filmed for the camera, not current practice.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended as an amazing documentary of traditional ironmaking, often used as a baseline for the labor required.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “One of my favorite videos is a documentary of a village in Africa that goes through the process of producing iron tools from scratch”

    Whole village produces iron tools from scratch to preserve knowledge.

    oflannabhra, 2020-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Iron, How Did They Make It? Part II”

  2. “the video itself is super interesting”

    Commenter found it very amazing and super interesting.

    JorgeGT, 2018-08 · Recommendation · in “Google tracks your movements, like it or not”

  3. “which I think more people should see in connection with this series”

    Documentary complements the iron-making blog series.

    guerrilla, 2020-10 · Recommendation · in “Iron, How Did They Make It, Part III: Hammer-Time”

  4. “It's amazing to see how much work the traditional technique required.”

    Documentary on traditional ironmaking using only Neolithic materials.

    kragen, 2022-09 · Recommendation · in “Making iron from sand [video]”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: bloomery, ironmaking, burkina faso, metallurgy, charcoal

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