Many years ago, I got hooked on YouTube videos about self-sufficiency and living in nature. There was stuff about building bamboo houses, making bricks, forging bronze tools, and clearing land for rice paddies.
At some point, I got it into my head to try making a primitive furnace out back. The soil in these parts is all red clay, and I thought I could replicate what I was seeing on the TV screen.
I spent a couple of weeks tearing up the lawn, cutting down trees, and digging a large pit. My first goal was to make charcoal. So, got together a bunch of wood and built a tepee-shaped tower.
Afterwards, I worked the clay into coils and blocks and built a very ugly tower around the wood, and then filled in any gaps. I left a small opening near the ground in the pit, and the top had another opening.
I then spent an hour or so trying to light the wood on fire. It did catch, but after a while, the clay began to dry out and crack in spots. Parts of the clay fell away from the tower. Worse still, I had left air pockets in the clay, and they began to explode.
After getting hit with little bits, I panicked and dumped a bucket of water on the tower. Now, if you go out back, all there is left of the furnace is a lumpy spot on the lawn. It is overgrown with weeds in that one spot. If you pull up the weeds, you can still find parts of the clay bricks.
It was a sobering experience, I learned my lesson and stick to watching YouTube and not living it.
