R.Chapple Wv Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I'm sure there is a proper place to post this question, but I'm not sure which one. I've visited quite a few websites of Blacksmiths, most claim they use wrought iron. I can only find mild steel. The only place I've found so far is in the UK. Is there a supplier in the US, that sells actual wrought iron? And if so, Would someone please point me in the right direction? Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Well , seeing as it hasn't been made for decades you need to scrounge scrap yards, or buy from someone who has found it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 what I have left is from two sources,an old bridge, for 1 inch stock, and some 1/2 x 5 inch of 44 inch dia wagon wheels I dug up ( literally ) from my little sisters back yard. good luck finding some. I have seen people getting $8# for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I'd say that 98% of blacksmiths may claim they *make* wrought iron but very few indeed use the material wrought iron---it's like going to the "Linens Department" at a store nothing there is made from linen but they are "linens" The material became the name for the items made from it even when the stuff used changed! As for buying it I get mine out of the scrap stream; usually pick up 10 to 40# each time I visit the scrap yard as I can "see" it. Old wagon tyres are often real WI but of the coarsest grades. In the UK the Real Wrought Iron Co LTD recycles wrought iron and sells it. The last commercial producer of puddled wrought iron in the UL went out of business around 40 years ago and donated their factory to the Blists Hill museum, Ironbridge gorge, Shropshire. They don't puddle AFAIK, but re roll WI scrap for sale. Remember that anything pre 1850's was real wrought iron or cast iron (very small amounts of blister, shear and crucible steel) and a lot in the later half of the 19th century was too; but it pretty much died out during the great depression as being more expensive to make. Commercially http://www.oldglobewood.com/real-wrought-iron-rods.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Thomas, your info makes me feel a little better now. They took down the bridge over the Carquinez straits back where I grew up. It was made in 1922, and had some great ironwork. I had wondered if it may have been wrought. Sounds like it probably was not. I still wish I could have gotten some of the riveted X braced supports for other projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Thomas, your info makes me feel a little better now. They took down the bridge over the Carquinez straits back where I grew up. It was made in 1922, and had some great ironwork. I had wondered if it may have been wrought. Sounds like it probably was not. I still wish I could have gotten some of the riveted X braced supports for other projects. It could have been though. Wrought was more resistant to corrosion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I'm sure there is a proper place to post this question, but I'm not sure which one. I've visited quite a few websites of Blacksmiths, most claim they use wrought iron. I can only find mild steel. The only place I've found so far is in the UK. Is there a supplier in the US, that sells actual wrought iron? And if so, Would someone please point me in the right direction? Rich Hi Rich. The term "wrought" means to make. Steel is generally 99.7% iron (except tool steel which still is mostly iron. Many of us in the trade simply call mild or plain steel iron. I picked up the habit when I worked for many years in a blacksmith shop in continuous operation since 1917. Hence wrought iron also means steel formed into an object. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 http://www.wisconsinwoodchuck.net/treasures.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I have bought small amounts on ebay from "man-of-rust" Good quality and good service from seller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 have plenty here, old WI in the scrapyard by the ton, probably a couple of tons in the workshop and also some new 'butter iron' from the pure iron company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scotia Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 (edited) Look what I found... I joined this group solely for the purpose of finding a buyer for this chain but after reading a bunch about home forging I have a head full of ideas. So, I have a few questions for anybody that would be kind enough to answer. Is this WI? If it is WI, would it be good for a novice to work with or would it be better put to use by a more experienced BS? If I were to part with it, should I sell the whole thing or chunk it up and what might it be worth? I'm just getting started. As I sit on top of what was one of the largest and deepest coal mines in the world. I have access to what I believe would be some very nice forging coal. Very Low Sulphur, High Carbon Bit. Now that the Old pit Head is a saw mill. I could make little home forge kits with a couple of links of WI and a bag of great coal packed in a nice pine box. Maybe I am over thinking this but I would like to make a hobby out of scrounging up old WI just for the fun of it. There may be some interesting history behind this chain. My buddy and I found it under a rock in The Bay of Fundy. After talking to some locals, we were informed that around 1900 there was a Northern Right Whale Carcass beached in the area. To get rid of the stink, the locals, using horses, pulled the carcass out as far as they could at low tide and then draped some of these chains over the whale to keep it down. Apparently, the carcass ended up back on the beach with the next tide and the chains were lost. I'm not sure if this is one of the whale chains but it makes for an interesting story at least. OK, I'm done. Any thoughts or words or wisdom? Forgot to say that this chain is 98' long with 96 8" x 4 1/2" by 1 1/2" links weighing approx. 5 1/4 lb each. Edited July 11, 2016 by Steve Scotia forgot something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Looks like wrought to me from the striations where you "broke" the link. I've got what I believe to be an old loggers chain out of wrought and will have to do a similar test to check. Might be interested in purchasing few links from you when and if you decide to sell, depending on the pricing and such. Wrought is different to work than conventional, modern, low or medium carbon steel. In my limited experience it needs to be worked much hotter than mild steel to avoid cracking at the fiber interfaces, but once it is up to that high yellow temperature moves pretty easily. Some wrought iron with a lot of silicacious inclusions has an interesting surface texture after finishing. It can be an attractive design element, but can also look like imperfections in the product (all in your point of view I guess). I haven't done a lot of welding with it, but have heard that it forge welds pretty well without fluxing. So not the easiest for a novice to work with, in general, but certainly not as difficult as temperamental high carbon tool steels like say 52100 or H-13. Why don't you heat it and beat it and see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Yes it wrought iron and the type of chain with the central bar was generally used as anchor chain---which fits in with your story. It should be a good grade of Wrought iron. Beginners don't need wrought iron as it's rather a specialized material. As such there is not a very deep market for it. I have seen it sold for between US$1 a pound to $6 a pound (asking price). LOCATION will make all the difference as shipping can be the deciding cost issue. Will you be at the Quad-State Blacksmith's Round-Up this September with some? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Latticino, The gentleman is most probably living on Cape Breton island, Nova Scotia, Canada. The shipping charges might be a factor in acquiring some wrought iron. It is W. I. for sure. I wonder what the heat value, & ash and sulfur content of Cape Breton coal is. Does anyone, per chance, know? There is a lot of coal there and the coal tips might have lots of usable coal still. (many of the mines are under the sea bed, I do not think any of them are still in operation. But Pennsylvania and West Virginia are a lot closer. Have good memories of Halifax, N.S. did law at Dal. SLAG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scotia Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Thanks for the information fellas. To answer your questions. I live in Springhill, Nova Scotia. That is on the mainland, close to The New Brunswick border, right at the northern tip of The Bay of Fundy. Plenty of coal and maybe lots of old iron in these parts. I am happy to hear that my chain is indeed WI. I haven't yet decided between "heating and beating" this stuff myself or taking it to "hammer in" or other such conflab and opening up a hot dog stand type deal from the back of my pick up. A free sausage with every link....I'm afraid The Quad State area is beyond the range of my old truck. The coal here was supposed to be the best in the world until a couple of major disasters shut the mines down in The 50's.. The only analysis I can find has it at 65% carbon 3.92% Ash and 0.82% Sulphur. I haven't yet found heat value for this particular seam but other coals in the area run at 12,000 to 15,000 BTU per pound. Slag, my son is in his second year at Dal now. I can only assume that my own memories of Law in Halifax are not as good as yours. Thanks again for the help guys. I will keep you in the loop and try and keep a few extra links around when I figure out exactly what I'm going to do with this old chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Well I often see a bunch of smiths from Canada at Quad State; if you want to go you might ask around for a group going from someplace your truck might make. I'm driving 1500 miles from New Mexico USA to it given that the minivan with 232000 miles on it makes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scotia Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Well, I do indeed know some Smiths up here in Canada. If I stumble across one of my Smith friends heading to the Quad State with room for 1,000 lbs of wrought iron. a ton of coal and a chain smoking, foul mouthed roughneck, I will definitely hitch a ride...... I did take your advice and have found a couple of local gatherings, one of which, is the guys making Viking Tools and Weaponry, which would be cool to see. I am heading out this afternoon to look for some forge building stuff. Maybe an axle/hub and any useable junk I might be able to use. There is an abandoned iron ore mine (early 1800's) not far from here and I might even come across some more wrought now that I kind of know what I am looking for. Let the adventure begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Well you wouldn't sell 1000 pounds of wrought iron even at Quad-State unless it was a give away price. You probably could sell 100 pounds at a decent price. As for the rest there are other smiths out there that fit that profile... Considering that folks have shown up to Q-S with powerhammers you might be surprised at what you could manage to take; the big problem is all the stuff you take home in my experience. My poor wife's minivan had coal and postvises piled up in it for our return trip last time... If you see Darrell Markewitz doing Viking era smithing tell him I said Hi! You might check around the mine to see if there is any iron ore to run your own bloomery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scotia Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I just googled "Bloomery". My goodness. Mr. Powers....I can assure you that any grief you received from your wife for coal dust in the minivan will pale in comparison to the wrath of my wife if she were to ever find out who put the word "Bloomery" in my head...just sayin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I was part of a team who would build an run a short stack scandinavian bloomery during a campout, (SCA's Pennsic War), every year for a decade+. My wife thought it kept me out of trouble... The tatara, a japanese bloomery furnace, is probably better known these days especially amongst knife and sword makers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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