karamonde

Thank you all, the marking on the maul doesn't mean anything to anyone here then. Regarding the grapnel, I think I will clean it up and use it as decoration.

Hello folks, first post from Athens, Greece. Last week I visited a scrapyard, felt like I was in paradise surrounded by mountains of metal. Loads of interesting things there: piles and piles of leaf springs, jackhammer bits, wrenches, sawblades, an old anti-aircraft gun, a MASSIVE double forge, train wheels, axles... The reason I went there though is because I was looking for wrought iron. I found a pile of ship's chain with clearly forge-welded links, and the telltale striations, even found one end of the chain, but the people there wouldn't cut a few links off for me. Then I found this anchor in the link below and bought it, along with a maul(?). Happy that I found what I thought was wrought iron I came home and cut halfway through one of the flukes to do a bend test, as I remembered that most old anchors that I'd seen look a lot like wrought iron. To my disappointment it looks like mild steel, but I'd like your opinion. The closeup photo is more a play of the light on the angle grinder wheel's marks than wrought iron layers. The sparks that came out were long, orange, with the occasional burst at the end. If it is indeed mild steel then it isn't interesting anymore as stock, and I should find a decorative use for it, I may try to exchange it for some chain in an antique shop - I know for a fact that these can sell for a lot, at least in my area, whereas I paid just 20 euros for it. Any suggestions? Of course the fact it is now damaged by me doesn't make it very attractive... I also bought this maul(?), it is very heavy (17lbs in US units), but not hardened, a file bites it easily. I reckon it can be used for striking though just by its sheer weight, what do you think? Does anyone recognise the marking? It also has "1" stamped on it, the scrapyard people said it is a "American shipyard hammer", does anyone know what it might be? https://imgur.com/a/g5qzO The place also has loads of pickaxe and spike maul heads, mountains of them.

Hello all, I've been lurking for a good long while and thought I want to ask a few questions, so I joined. I am still at the very beginning of the craft, learning whenever I get time at the forge, which sadly is not that often. My interests with regards to blacksmithing are primarily ornamental ironwork, but also functional tools, however the only semi-functional tools I've made so far are a punch, chisel, and drift, a small misshapen hammer, and a couple of abysmal-looking tongs which I since decided were no good for anything so I cut them up and used them. Ok, two misshapen candleholders too! Incidentally that was my trigger for liking the craft, the fact that if something doesn't work it is usually possible to reclaim and use at least part of the material. My "final" goal is to forge a wrought iron chandelier, and that was also what made me think if I could get all the components needed to forge someday. The wealth of information here is amazing!