Primitive Technology
September 5, 2015 11:38 AM Subscribe
Australian Man builds clay roof hut in the woods using only primitive tools and his own two hands
Wicked cool... 102 days of work compressed into something to be watched in one sitting.
posted by MikeWarot at 12:10 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by MikeWarot at 12:10 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Should be titled "Australian man fails to develop a tan after 102 days of working outside shirtless"
I kid. Very cool.
posted by pravit at 12:36 PM on September 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
I kid. Very cool.
posted by pravit at 12:36 PM on September 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
Dude probably made a very effective sunscreen out of, I don't know, sticks or something. 'Primitive Chemistry' seems like the logical next step.
posted by echo target at 12:39 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by echo target at 12:39 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I want to see the outtakes where the dude dropped shingles and went FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU@#%$#@!#&$@!@&
Because I mean that is a lot of work per shingle.
posted by BlueJae at 12:52 PM on September 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
Because I mean that is a lot of work per shingle.
posted by BlueJae at 12:52 PM on September 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
This guy is just pranking future archaeologists:
“The site radiocarbon dates to around the twenty-first century, but we normally don’t see this type of technology used in villages in that region until the twenty-third century, and even then the complete absence of scavenged materials from the Old Culture is puzzling.”
posted by D.C. at 1:03 PM on September 5, 2015 [30 favorites]
“The site radiocarbon dates to around the twenty-first century, but we normally don’t see this type of technology used in villages in that region until the twenty-third century, and even then the complete absence of scavenged materials from the Old Culture is puzzling.”
posted by D.C. at 1:03 PM on September 5, 2015 [30 favorites]
pravit - I was wondering about that. Sunscreen may have been involved.
posted by amtho at 1:14 PM on September 5, 2015
posted by amtho at 1:14 PM on September 5, 2015
Tan or no tan, I found it rather ... aesthetically pleasing? ... that primitive technology appears not to not include the invention of the shirt.
posted by drlith at 1:29 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by drlith at 1:29 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
So cool! I keep thinking that if he made the tiles, why not make bricks in a similar way and build the walls from bricks?
My other thought was that it would be great if at the end you saw him putting his lawnmower inside and the whole time it was just in order to build a garden shed!
posted by geeklizzard at 1:44 PM on September 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
My other thought was that it would be great if at the end you saw him putting his lawnmower inside and the whole time it was just in order to build a garden shed!
posted by geeklizzard at 1:44 PM on September 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
Man, I love this guy's work. This video, like his previous one, struck me profoundly. I found myself awestruck at moments. The absence of narration makes this literally an universal video, that could be watched by any human of any culture (or from any historical era), and it would speak to something deep inside each of us. That's an amazing feat of art and cinematography, right there, not to speak of his primitive tech skills.
posted by darkstar at 1:57 PM on September 5, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 1:57 PM on September 5, 2015 [17 favorites]
It's almost trees evolved to soak up sunlight or something.
The weird thing about this (to me at least) is that he's kind of all over the road technology wise. By the time clay tile roofs were a thing, so were relatively high quality steel saws and hammer beam roofs.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:58 PM on September 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
The weird thing about this (to me at least) is that he's kind of all over the road technology wise. By the time clay tile roofs were a thing, so were relatively high quality steel saws and hammer beam roofs.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:58 PM on September 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Tiled roofs go back further than you might think.
posted by protorp at 2:07 PM on September 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by protorp at 2:07 PM on September 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was trying to figure out the weight distribution; those tiles must have been heavy, and the lashings (even with the peg construction) would seem to have been under pretty serious stress until he built up the walls.
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:35 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:35 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
The roof could have been made much more waterproof quite easily, I would think, by curling one vertical side of a tile down, and the other up, and then overlapping them side-by-side, down-over-up-curled edge. I wonder if there's a reason not to do that, or if he just didn't think of it until half way through when he decided "I am NOT remaking 30 tiles to get some added protection from rain since my house is just over there."
posted by fatbird at 2:55 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by fatbird at 2:55 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
fatbird, yep, that type of design is still used.
tuile à emboîtement (sorry but the English wiki article for roof tiles is quite poor – not too surprising given that France has a seriously rich diversity of roof tiles)
posted by MarionnetteFilleDeChaussette at 3:12 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
tuile à emboîtement (sorry but the English wiki article for roof tiles is quite poor – not too surprising given that France has a seriously rich diversity of roof tiles)
posted by MarionnetteFilleDeChaussette at 3:12 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
A three dimensional tile would require a much more complicated form. The frames would be very difficult to create and you need quite a few.
Interesting though that he didn't bother with a half width tile for the edges.
geeklizzard: " I keep thinking that if he made the tiles, why not make bricks in a similar way and build the walls from bricks? "
Chews up a lot of clay. The walls are made of cheap mud (and even then he used rocks as a filler to reduce mud usage).
posted by Mitheral at 3:43 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Interesting though that he didn't bother with a half width tile for the edges.
geeklizzard: " I keep thinking that if he made the tiles, why not make bricks in a similar way and build the walls from bricks? "
Chews up a lot of clay. The walls are made of cheap mud (and even then he used rocks as a filler to reduce mud usage).
posted by Mitheral at 3:43 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
And yet, I can barely manage to mow my lawn.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:49 PM on September 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:49 PM on September 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
I can't figure out, though, why he's bothering with tile. He has logs, thatch and clay. That's all you need for a thatched roof, the kind you still see today. Beyond aesthetics, there's no advantage I can see for a true Stone Age community to advance to tile.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:54 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:54 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thatch has to be renewed regularly; tile is more or less permanent. Besides this is a hobby not production. Questioning his material choice is like questioning why some people build ships in bottles instead of actual ships or something.
posted by Mitheral at 3:57 PM on September 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 3:57 PM on September 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
OK! Next in the tech tree, "Australian man builds smelter in the forest." All without getting a tan.
It's a good opening, but sooner or later he's going to have to switch over and develop agriculture before he can have his city
posted by happyroach at 3:57 PM on September 5, 2015 [14 favorites]
It's a good opening, but sooner or later he's going to have to switch over and develop agriculture before he can have his city
posted by happyroach at 3:57 PM on September 5, 2015 [14 favorites]
A three dimensional tile would require a much more complicated form.
Maybe, maybe not. Make a flat tile, let it stiffen but not dry, and then roll the edge partially around a thick branch, as he does for the curvey tiles that go on top. That would accomplish it without much extra work, and without requiring a different form at all.
That's all you need for a thatched roof
Because he's already done that. His channel has several different experiments, including making an adze.
posted by fatbird at 3:58 PM on September 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Maybe, maybe not. Make a flat tile, let it stiffen but not dry, and then roll the edge partially around a thick branch, as he does for the curvey tiles that go on top. That would accomplish it without much extra work, and without requiring a different form at all.
That's all you need for a thatched roof
Because he's already done that. His channel has several different experiments, including making an adze.
posted by fatbird at 3:58 PM on September 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ttsssss....BOOOMMM.
posted by howfar at 4:12 PM on September 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by howfar at 4:12 PM on September 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
Wow it's like IRL Dwarf Fortress... with just one dwarf.
posted by Joe Chip at 4:23 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Joe Chip at 4:23 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think this was a really neat project, and I found myself wondering how many calories a day he was eating in order to cover the calories he was expending.
However, one of my major questions is: I don't see how the clay tile roof by itself provides waterproof protection from the rain, though. At around 8:55, after he has finished installing all the ridge tiles, the camera shots from the underside of the roof clearly show gaps where daylight shows through.
Maybe that is his "water collection system" inside the hut, since he already has underfloor heating. :)
posted by cynical pinnacle at 4:59 PM on September 5, 2015
However, one of my major questions is: I don't see how the clay tile roof by itself provides waterproof protection from the rain, though. At around 8:55, after he has finished installing all the ridge tiles, the camera shots from the underside of the roof clearly show gaps where daylight shows through.
Maybe that is his "water collection system" inside the hut, since he already has underfloor heating. :)
posted by cynical pinnacle at 4:59 PM on September 5, 2015
Saw this and the previous ones recently was was totally blown away. Worth reading his blog as he outlines the process in detail, and the amount of time is breathtaking. A major undertaking.
posted by greenhornet at 5:18 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by greenhornet at 5:18 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
One huge advantage of a tile roof over thatch is you don't have critters constantly dropping on you. I'm sure a modern roof has Tyvek to prevent that but, from what I have been told, thatch is it's own little biome.
posted by Foam Pants at 9:56 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Foam Pants at 9:56 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
> However, one of my major questions is: I don't see how the clay tile roof by itself provides waterproof protection from the rain, though. At around 8:55, after he has finished installing all the ridge tiles, the camera shots from the underside of the roof clearly show gaps where daylight shows through.
Yeah, I saw that too. My reaction, guided by the wisdom of the Dude was to say, "Obviously, you are not a roofer."
He could reduce the spacing between the roof battens and add an extra course (or two) of tiles to cover those gaps. Easy peasy, much less work than re-inventing curved tiles.
> I keep thinking that if he made the tiles, why not make bricks in a similar way and build the walls from bricks?
If you look at his blog, he's working in a rainforest; not the best place to dry bricks. Rain will dissolve your hard work faster than you can form it up.
I called a friend, who is a potter, to ask about that: without metal or milled wood, can you make a reliable brick form out of clay? Yes, of course you can, but it's a whole lot of work. A bunch of straw or horse hair embedded in the clay will help to make a mold. But make a bunch of them because they will be fragile. Brick forms are easy with bronze-age technology, but out of reach with stone-age technology.
But what's the worth of a dry-stack wall of bricks? He'd have to make a mud/clay mortar to set those bricks. There's a reason cultures that made adobe lived in placed with a lot of sunshine.
If he made bricks, then he'd have to make a mortar or make a veneer out of mud and clay to hold it together. That's what stucco is.
posted by peeedro at 10:26 PM on September 5, 2015
Yeah, I saw that too. My reaction, guided by the wisdom of the Dude was to say, "Obviously, you are not a roofer."
He could reduce the spacing between the roof battens and add an extra course (or two) of tiles to cover those gaps. Easy peasy, much less work than re-inventing curved tiles.
> I keep thinking that if he made the tiles, why not make bricks in a similar way and build the walls from bricks?
If you look at his blog, he's working in a rainforest; not the best place to dry bricks. Rain will dissolve your hard work faster than you can form it up.
I called a friend, who is a potter, to ask about that: without metal or milled wood, can you make a reliable brick form out of clay? Yes, of course you can, but it's a whole lot of work. A bunch of straw or horse hair embedded in the clay will help to make a mold. But make a bunch of them because they will be fragile. Brick forms are easy with bronze-age technology, but out of reach with stone-age technology.
But what's the worth of a dry-stack wall of bricks? He'd have to make a mud/clay mortar to set those bricks. There's a reason cultures that made adobe lived in placed with a lot of sunshine.
If he made bricks, then he'd have to make a mortar or make a veneer out of mud and clay to hold it together. That's what stucco is.
posted by peeedro at 10:26 PM on September 5, 2015
Dude, why are you building a Granary? We've unlocked friggin' Hospitals.
posted by um at 12:29 AM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by um at 12:29 AM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
I, too, wondered about the rain-worthiness of the roof, and half expected him to caulk up the seams with mud, fill the whole shootin' match with tinder and bake himself a waterproof roof.
But my real question is what he used to make his razor. I'm not seeing 102 days' worth of beard there ...
posted by oheso at 1:18 AM on September 6, 2015
But my real question is what he used to make his razor. I'm not seeing 102 days' worth of beard there ...
posted by oheso at 1:18 AM on September 6, 2015
I kept thinking of this. Pages 5 and 6 in particular.
posted by TDavis at 7:11 AM on September 6, 2015
posted by TDavis at 7:11 AM on September 6, 2015
This was really neat to watch, and I have a sudden strong urge to play some minecraft.
posted by cortex at 7:29 AM on September 6, 2015
posted by cortex at 7:29 AM on September 6, 2015
Very impressive, but can you imagine what his fingernails look like?
posted by Uncle Grumpy at 5:50 PM on September 6, 2015
posted by Uncle Grumpy at 5:50 PM on September 6, 2015
Hahahaha I am sitting in a chair sipping tea and mocking a man who has mastered more skills for one project that I have in my entire life hahahaha!
Also, I am an internet expert! He failed because reasons!
posted by IAmBroom at 10:25 AM on September 8, 2015
Also, I am an internet expert! He failed because reasons!
posted by IAmBroom at 10:25 AM on September 8, 2015
God damn that man is impressive. The complexities he reveals in each tiny step... marvelous.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:26 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by IAmBroom at 10:26 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
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